I can’t improve on Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s classic book Discipleship (1937). This important tome
went largely unnoticed until after his death, and when it was brought to
America, the publisher retitled it “The Cost of Discipleship,” thinking that
more people would buy a book by that title. But the current version (Fortress
Press, 2001) has reverted to the original title, Discipleship.
Actually, the German word Nachfolge was the original title; it literally means
“following after.” German scholars tell me that “Discipleship” is the best
English translation of Nachfolge. And
the message I take from this is that we disciples of Jesus are called to follow
after him.
For an extensive list of powerful quotations from Discipleship, see http://www.goodreads.com/work/quotes/2723088-nachfolge.
But here are some of my favorites:
·
When Christ calls a man, he bids him come and
die.
·
Cheap grace is the preaching of forgiveness
without requiring repentance, baptism without church discipline, Communion
without confession, absolution without personal confession. Cheap grace is grace
without discipleship, grace without the cross….Costly grace is….costly because
it costs a man his life, and….because it cost God the life of his Son: “ye were
bought at a price,” and what has cost God much cannot be cheap for us.
And this brings me to my point: This week’s discipling truth
is about costly obedience. Following Jesus isn’t just a walk in the park.
It is a lifetime commitment to follow Jesus, all the way to the cross.
Ron Sider reminds us that the New Testament calls Jesus our
Savior only 16 times, while it calls him Lord 423 times – what an insight! “Lord”
means king, ruler, owner, master. Unpacking some of the meaning of this
startling fact, Sider writes:
Right relationship with neighbor
must flow from a proper relationship with the Creator of human community. Our
doctrine is unbiblical and our life disobedient if repentance and conversion do
not involve fundamentally transformed relationships with neighbors, business
associates, employers, employees – anyone with whom we associate.[1]
Relationships are messy business. We can’t just go around
with a “Jesus and me” attitude. It’s “Jesus and we!” And that is costly
obedience! I must live in right relationship with everyone in my world. I
simply cannot allow broken relationships to continue; I must practice biblical
reconciliation (which, by the way, is the seminary’s Mission Statement).
And that is costly obedience!
Sider goes on to state that “the core of Jesus’ teaching on
discipleship was total, lifelong, unconditional submission to him as Master: ‘If
anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and
follow me.’”[2] That is costly
obedience!
Ministry in the 21st Century is taking a decisive
turn away from “knowledge based discipleship” toward “obedience based
discipleship” (see, for example, http://t4tusa.com/tag/obedience-based-discipleship/).
It is simply not enough to know Jesus: we must obey Jesus. And obedience is
costly!
Some years ago, I made an unwise posting on Facebook. One
person was so upset that they unfriended me – and told me so.
Immediately I sent an email, asking if we could dialog about it. I wanted –
needed – to know more about the offense so I could offer an appropriate apology
(and perhaps an explanation of what I had posted and what I had meant by it).
It cost me something to write that email. Imagine my
chagrin – and sadness – when I received this curt reply, “I choose not to do
that.” Wow! I didn’t know that you could make such a choice! I was naïve enough
to think that an overture of reconciliation had to be accepted and responded to
in kind.
For a Christ follower (a disciple), there is no such
choice. Christ calls us to be in right relationship with everyone. Period. No
matter how much it costs. No.matter.how.much.it.costs.
And that’s what I’m talking about: costly obedience.
You said this correctly. My salvation cost me everyone in my family outside my husband and my two children. If it cost us nothing then everyone would be jumping aboard. Therefore the call of Christ gives us only one choice...choose life or death. I chose life and never regretted in doing so because I gain so much more then what I gave up.
ReplyDeleteTruth. There is not much to add or say. Very well put.
ReplyDeleteI think we teach cheap grace quite often in the north american church. True discipleship isn't easy, and it looks a lot like you have described.
ReplyDeleteIt's true. We don't talk about the cost of discipleship very often, and even less when we are engaged in evangelistic activities. Should we talk about the cost of discipleship with a potential convert BEFORE we invite them to follow Christ? Should they count the cost in advance?
ReplyDeleteA very topic I have been studying a good bit recently and even preached a sermon about recently. Well put.
ReplyDelete