What Is The Real Cost Of Discipleship?

What Does It Mean To Leave All To Follow Christ?

Question: What is the real cost of discipleship? What does it mean to leave all to follow Christ?

Answer: Greetings in the most wonderful name of Jesus Christ!

"25 Now great multitudes went with Him. And He turned and said to them, 26 “If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and his own life also, he cannot be My disciple. 27 And whoever does not bear his cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple. 28 For which of you, intending to build a tower, does not sit down first and count the cost, whether he has enough to finish it— 29 lest, after he has laid the foundation, and is not able to finish, all who see it begin to mock him, 30 saying, ‘This man began to build and was not able to finish’? 31 Or what king, going to make war against another king, does not sit down first and consider whether he is able with ten thousand to meet him who comes against him with twenty thousand? 32 Or else, while the other is still a great way off, he sends a delegation and asks conditions of peace. 33 So likewise, whoever of you does not forsake all that he has cannot be My disciple." (Luke 14:25-33).

Always when people come to experience the miraculous power of God and His supernatural works, "great multitudes" will always follow Him without fail to receive more of His goodness in their earthly lives for earthly benefits (John 6:26-27). But Jesus does reveal his goodness to all humans without precondition, but only to His disciples He does reveal His spiritual goodness for their eternal benefits (John 6:28-29, 40).

Nearly everyone who believes in Jesus is called to become a disciple of Jesus (John 6:66), but only those who know the price of being a disciple and in spite choose to follow him become a disciple for the Glory of God (John 6:67-69).

A disciple is student learner who learns the character of his Master by being obedient to all His commands, and become loyal enough to serve others with that same attitude of mind for the Glory of his teacher and Master. A disciple of Jesus is a worshiper, a servant, and a witness. A disciple cannot be greater than his master, but can be like his master (Matt 10:24-26)!

The True Cost Of Discipleship

A person can believe Jesus and can seek to follow Jesus, but to be a real disciple, one needs to acknowledge the Lordship and Kingship of Jesus Christ, and then forsake one's own will and instead seek to fulfill the desire, will and purpose of Jesus. So many stumble at this point of time, when they realize the huge earthly cost of being a disciple costs them (Mark 10:27-22; Matt 8:18-22; Luke 9:57-62). Being a disciple of Jesus is to die to our own will by denying it and instead take up our cross by seeking to fulfill His will for our lives and then follow Jesus (Luke 9:23).

There is a personal cost that we have to pay in order to be a true disciple of Jesus.

Certain people get confused when they read the cost of discipleship, "26 “If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and his own life also, he cannot be My disciple. 27 And whoever does not bear his cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple." (Luke 14:26-27). The confusion in their heart goes to the extent of making them ask the following question, "Why does Jesus want us to hate our immediate family members?" Does Jesus teach us to hate? No, please do not misunderstand and stumble in your spiritual life. We can get better clarity regarding this verse when we read another saying of Jesus that says, "He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me. And he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me." (Matt 10:37).

In other words, Jesus throws a hyperbole, and says that when our love for the Lord Jesus and Master who has given for us His very own sinless life, is compared to the love we have for our biological parents and immediate family members, it should seem as though we are hating them when it is compared to the love we have for Jesus Christ. The supreme love of Jesus demands no less love in return than that highest love in response to His as a disciple. Any love that we give to Jesus in return that is lesser than that of our biological family members which is the highest for any human born on earth, is deemed as unworthy for the cost that a true disciple of Jesus has to pay.

Even if our parents or immediate family members such as our wife, children or brothers and sisters are able to make us disobey Jesus because of our love and commitment for them, it means our love for Jesus is less than the love we have for them. We are disqualified from being a disciple. So have we truly learned to hate our parents or all our biological family members? Are we carrying the cross that God has told us to lift up? Are we ready to leave our everything and follow Jesus as His disciple whole heartedly? Our cross carrying life is not an option for a disciple of Jesus, rather it is mandatory as the Lord Jesus wants them all to follow Him spiritually.

Will You Count The Cost For Building The Body Of Your Heavenly House And Be Ready For Spiritual Warfare To Overcome And Inherit Eternal Riches?

"28 For which of you, intending to build a tower, does not sit down first and count the cost, whether he has enough to finish it— 29 lest, after he has laid the foundation, and is not able to finish, all who see it begin to mock him, 30 saying, ‘This man began to build and was not able to finish’? 31 Or what king, going to make war against another king, does not sit down first and consider whether he is able with ten thousand to meet him who comes against him with twenty thousand? 32 Or else, while the other is still a great way off, he sends a delegation and asks conditions of peace. 33 So likewise, whoever of you does not forsake all that he has cannot be My disciple." (Luke 14:28-33).

A lot of people have a desire to become spiritually great and glorified by God, but when it comes to paying the cost of discipleship, many many believers fall on the way because they have not fully counted the cost whether they have enough ability in their life to lose anything in their earthly life, and instead gain everything in their heavenly life that awaits them eternally? Other worldly people who see the life of a disciple without the power of God and the supernatural working of God through them will mock their lives because it will be no different or unique than the lives they as unbelievers already live on earth in their abundance, spending it according to their own lust (1 Cor 15:19).

The cost of discipleship demands all of our desires to be given completely to our Lord Jesus and instead be ready to fulfill the desires of the Lord anytime and anyplace. Only such disciples will be able to see a finished house of great value within the lifetime of their lives on earth, after which they will be judged and rewarded, after which they will be made rulers in the world to come (2 Cor 4:16-18); 5:1-8, 9-11).

Not only that, to be a disciple of Jesus also means that we as a king under the King of Kings who is Jesus have to wage a good spiritual warfare against the devil who is "the prince of the power of the air" (Eph 2:2) and also the "god of this age" (2 Cor 4:4). We learn to wrestle in our spiritual life as a disciple of Jesus by standing against principalities, powers, rulers of the darkness of this age and spiritual hosts of the wickedness in the heavenly places, through which the wiles of the devil are prevented from being executed in the life of a disciple, thus fulfilling the will of God and extend the Kingdom of God on earth as it is in heaven (Eph 6:11-12). There are a lot to consider, especially regarding the spiritual warfare aspect, and that Satan is working constantly with much more of the evil angels against those who are half heartedly following Jesus to be a disciple of his. When the enemy is far off to attack someone spiritually, if that person is not ready for it, and honestly as a believer if he asks God for protection and peace in order to stay away from the evil attack, God sends a delegation of angels to protect his children and thus ask for peace (1 Cor 10:13; Job 1:10, 11-12; Matt 18:10-14; 26:53).

Unfinished Spiritual Buildings And Defeated Wars! Make A Turnaround For His Glory!

I have seen enough unfinished buildings and defeated armies because Of miscalculations and lethargy. So many people who have had no plan of how to finish construction were never able to finish their building. So many kings have been defeated mostly because of lack of planning to weigh the opponents strength and weaknesses as well as theirs.

In order to be a good disciple of Jesus Christ, we should first count the cost and then pay the price of giving up our own will and desires to fulfill the will of God and His desires and purpose for our lives, more and more day after day. By giving up and dying to our self, we receive the power and supernatural force of heaven which makes us alive and well to fulfill His plans, purposes and desires for our life and in the lives of countless millions around the world, and thus make us a blessing to the world around which is in need of the heavenly life of God (Php 1:21; 3:8, 10-11).

God rewards every believer according to their works (Rev 22:12), every work that is done outside of the will of God in their lives will be burnt to ashes (1 Cor 3:14-15), things that are not burnt in the judgment of God will remain as eternal rewards for the believer who has built his spiritual house for eternity by investing in it (Matt 6:19-21), these who have also waged intense spiritual warfare and have stood in the armor of God which has empowered them to stand strong in the Lord and in the power of His might (Eph 6:10), will finally be eternally rewarded by God with His power, might and Glory (Php 4:19; Matt 6:4, 13; Jude 24-25)!

So the bottom line is, a life lived as a disciple of Jesus will need a forsaking of all their earthly desires in order to fulfill the will of God for their lives.

We have some hard questions to ask ourselves if we are considering ourselves as a disciple of Jesus Christ, so that we could align ourselves better in the exact path of Jesus Christ our Lord that he has prepared for us and also check ourselves to see whether our faith is active enough to rewarded eternally.

Do we love Jesus more than all our immediate biological family members like our father, mother, wife, brothers, sisters, sons and daughters? Have we forsaken all of our earthly desires to fulfill the heavenly desire of God for our life? Are we pursuing the plans, purpose and power of God to fulfill God's destiny? Are we lifting up our own cross daily by denying our will to fulfill God's will? Let us not call ourselves as disciples of Jesus by our own words, but let our actions and zeal for God make us to be called as disciples of Jesus by all people around us for the Glory of God (Acts 11:26; 4:13). May we become finished spiritual eternal palaces to the Lord, and continue to remain as undefeated victorious champion of spiritual warfare against the evil one as His disciples that strikes terror within them in the name of the Lord for His Glory! Truly we are more than conquerors in Christ Jesus, because He has loved us eternally, and therefore because of it has saved us by paying the price for it by giving His own sinless life to redeem us and make us remain with Him forever and ever in His Presence. Amen.



Much Blessings...

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