The Cost of Discipleship      A verse of the old Christian camp song goes, “if you cannot bear the cross, you can’t wear the crown.” Is that true? In reality, it says too much. We believe that Jesus bore the cross for us so that by faith in Him and His work of atonement, we receive that crown by grace – no works of merit are necessary. But before we dismiss the verse too quickly, it does contain a message that should cause us to stop and ponder. Dietrich Bonhoeffer was right, there is a Cost to Discipleship (title of one of his books). Jesus says in Matthew, Mark and Luke that whoever would be His disciple must deny himself, take up his cross and follow him. He goes on to say that whoever would save his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for Jesus’ sake will save it. If we are going to follow Jesus, we will find ourselves paying some price. In fact, it can be argued from scripture that if you are not paying some kind of price, carrying some kind of cross, maybe you are not following Jesus at all.     

So what price are you paying? Maybe we should ask another question first. What are we paying for? If Christ bore the cross for us, if He paid the price for our sin, if salvation is by grace through faith, then what does our carrying the cross, whatever that cross may be, gain? The answer maybe somewhat disconcerting – directly, we gain nothing at all! St. Paul says in 2 Corinthians 5:15 that Jesus died for all “that that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again.” The cross we bear, the price we pay is whatever it takes to live for Jesus. And what does it  mean to live for Jesus? It means to devote our lives to that for which He devoted His life: the saving of the world. Again, St. Paul says in 1 Timothy 2:3 - 4, “This is good, and pleases God our Savior, who wants all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth.” The bottom line is this, people are living and dying without a relationship with Jesus Christ, and though He lived and  died to save them, they are not saved. There is nothing more important to Jesus than for you and I as His followers to ‘spend’ ourselves in order that another soul comes to know Him.    

So again, I ask, what price are you paying so that the lost will be found, the spiritually dead made alive, the spiritually blind can see, the sinner can be saved? What personal inconvenience will you bear even if it is just for one lost sinner? What privilege will you forgo? What tradition not mandated in scripture will you sacrifice in at least an attempt to bring someone to Christ? St. Paul said, “For I could wish that I myself were cursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my brothers, those of my own race, the people of Israel.” (Romans 9:3)  What are we willing to sacrifice for someone else? Are we willing to take the bread out of our own mouth in order to feed another?? If you wish to follow Jesus, you may well be asked to do that and much more. It could cost you your life… in fact, it will cost you your life – a life lived for Jesus. If you cannot bear the cross, you can’t ‘share’ the crown.