The Cost of Discipleship

Today I got to meet up with Wesley at Thai Spoons. It's a Thai place that my co-workers told me about and it's pretty good and cheap. I actually got lost getting there but it's funny because I texted him the cross streets (El Camino and Mary) and then later when I look it up again on google maps and I guess it screwed up or I have a lost in memory but I remembered it as Fair Oaks and El Camino. Long story short I was going in circles trying to find the place and I got there 15 minutes late. I guess I'm pretty out of it these days haha. He was patiently waiting even thought he was starving and probably tired from the commute.

I'm definitely thankful for Wes and all the ways he has served the church. He also helped me out when he came in the morning to help me "camp out" and save a spot for the church BBQ.

We both chow down really quickly and barely have time to talk as we shovel food into our mouths. I guess we were both pretty hungry. However, the good part of the conversation was when we both left the restaurant and chilled in the parking lot. Instead of grabbing boba, we loiter around the parking lot like high schoolers and talked about various things on our hearts.

One of the things that Wes reminded me of was the cost of discipleship. Wes, said that if it were not God, Christ and the Holy Spirit reviving our hearts, we would not choose Christ. No one would. We would rather choose money, family, stability, etc than Christ. Basically health, wealth, prosperity. For some strange reason, tonight in the dimly lit parking lot, it got me really thinking. It's true, if a person is not saved, why would they choose Christ and choose to follow him over all the other things that in the world's eye's is precious. People would for sure choose, money, family and comfort, over following Christ. It is indeed in one sense, total depravity (T in TULIP). We would not choose the things of God. It reminds me of Romans 3:11 where it says No one seeks for God. If it were not the irresistible grace of God (I in TULIP), we would still be after the things of this world. However, just because we have been saved, doesn't mean it's not a battle to still desire the things of this world over Christ. Jesus tells us to give up everything for Him. Luke 14:25-33 talks about this:


"Now great crowds accompanied him, and he turned and said to them, “If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple. Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple.  For which of you, desiring to build a tower, does not first sit down and count the cost, whether he has enough to complete it?  Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who see it begin to mock him,  saying, ‘This man began to build and was not able to finish.’  Or what king, going out to encounter another king in war, will not sit down first and deliberate whether he is able with ten thousand to meet him who comes against him with twenty thousand?  And if not, while the other is yet a great way off, he sends a delegation and asks for terms of peace. So therefore, any one of you who does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple."

As I read this, the more I realize that only Christians are able to do this. I believe that's why Jesus spoke to the great crowds that followed Him. He wanted to see who his real disciples were and who were there to just go along with the crowd or because He had the gift of healing or because he had unlimited supply of food. I remember Steve Lawson gave a sermon on this passage a while ago at Resolved. I was a young Christian and now 5+ years later, I'm still learning what it means to be a disciple of Christ. I mean definitely we are not perfect and sin remains but if there is a desire to fight and there is the Holy Spirit indwelling within us then we would want to fight. This desire to fight is a sign of life and an assurance of salvation. I think as we grow, this battle does get easier. The things of God becomes more and more precious and worthy of our energy and time. Sometimes the fight gets difficult and I see myself not loving God as I should be and a verse would come into my mind, (probably the most scariest verse in the bible) “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’" - Matthew 7:21-23. Sometimes when I don't see Jesus as my supreme treasure or when I don't love Jesus as much as I should, I get fearful of this. However, I shouldn't be because the fight is a sign. I believe Jesus is talking to those who are doing it not because they love Jesus but some other reason. The goal of our action should be a response to His love and not a way to "pay back". We can never pay Jesus back for what He did. If the desire to fight is ever present in our soul, it is a definitely assurance of salvation. I believe that's what Paul means in Romans 5:3-5. "Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope,  and hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us." Through our sufferings, through our struggles, through our battles with sin whether it is our own sin or someone else throwing sin at us, we are able to build endurance. God gives us the grace and energy and endurance to handle sufferings. This endurance builds character in us and in the end this gives us hope. Why? Why does hope not put us to shame? Because it's a sign that God's love has been poured into our hearts and the Holy Spirit has been give to us. This means that if we are saved and only if we are saved, our sufferings all make sense because in the end it builds character in us to love God more and bring Him more glory! If we fight and want to desire Christ above all things, then it is an assurance that the Holy Spirit is in us and according to Ephesians 1:13-14 the Holy Spirit is the guarantee of our inheritance to the praise of His glory.

So FIGHT ON! Put on that armor and wield that sword. It is a glorious thing that God is jealous for the things that are His. We are His and He loves us so much that He desires us to be more like His Son so that we do can radiate His glory.