The Ohio Independent Baptist, October 2000

Th~<> I••d.~p~ •d.~ • • • • - r • ~ ,.• - , ' " I 1 • • • - • •t • I -. e, • '71 . . _: •., \.... ~ : \~ . ': . . . . ~ . . ,' . . . .· ; • • ••• • ••• • {~.;/._-..,,...... ' ••• ·.. - :•." .·... • • + The N ewsletter of the Ohio Assoc iation of R egula r Bapti t C hurche Vol. 73 No. 5 October 2000 The High Cost Of Christian Discipleship ' ' ow great mu ltitudes went with Him. And He turned and said to them, " If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his father, mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and his own life also, he cannot be My disciple. And whoever does not bear his cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple. ...So likewise, whoever of you does not forsake all that he has cannot be My disciple" (Luke 14:25-33 NKN). From even a casual reading of these words we get the notion that our Lord was more interested in the quality of His followers than merely in their quantity. Rather than complimenting or encouraging the "great multitude" that had gathered to keep on keeping on, He actually poured cold water al) over their enthusiasm and forced them to think through what following after Him would cost them. He wanted fo llowers whowou ld give Him absolute priority in their loyalties even at great personal cost - and I le wanted thern to commit to doing so up front. Actually, Christ wanted all of l-I is followers to become disciples. But I-Te insisted that they be rea listic. Unlike salvation, discipleship would cost them dearly. Salvation is a free gift and carries no price tagwith it (Ephesians2:8-9;Ti tus 3:5). f he condition which we must fu lfill to recerve this gift is faith alone in Christ alone. Our salvat ion cost our Lord dearly, but is given to us freely on the basis of grace. 0 11 t/1e ot/1er /1and... On the other hand , disc ipleship is an expensive proposll 1on 1 o be a disciple is Lo be a serious sa int, a be lie er who has learned to put the Lord Jesus Ch, 1st first in e eryth ing. A disc iple is a believer who has moved beyond simp ly embracing the gospel for salvation. He is a person who lives out the exhortation of Romans 12: 1, "present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God. ' Such a lifestyle will invo lve a high price tag. No wonder our Lord challenged the crowd that day to "count the cost. ' He was not giving them entrance requirements into the Christian life but rather ending requirements for a successfuIChristian experience. In the two illustrations that He used to secure His point , He pointed out what would be required to bring a proj ect to successful conclusion- a successful build ing project and a successful battle. Better be sure you have enough money to fi nish the building and enough manpower to win the battle. If we want to hear our Lord ultimately say to us, "Well done, good and fa ith fu l servant" we must be wi 11 ing both to count and to pay the high cost of discipleship. Finishing well is the point of our Lord' s challenge . Andjust wl1t1t is t/1 e /1ig/1 cost of C/1ristian disciples/1 ip? a) Sayinggood-bye toeverybody. Christ must become 1nore i1nportant to us than every other person in our lives. 1--le lists in verse 26 both imn1ed iate and extended fain ily the most significan t others in anyone's life . hrist insists that I le be n1ore important to us than all other people. b) ayinggood-byetoeverything. Christ n1ust become more irnportant to us than any property \Ve own in li fe. I l e includes 1t all in verse 33 v. 1 hen I le says, "a ll that he has.'' I le is speaking of houses, lands. cars, boats, I{Vs, stocks, bonds, etc. ·1 he disc iple le, rn s to hold the th ings ot life loose ly and tu cling tenac1ou~I) to (' hr1st James T. Jeremiah : our loss , heaven' s ga in pages 3 & 8 Camp Patmos wil l finally have a dock ! page 4 The Kawasaki Mule is on its way to PNG page 5 Conference schedule page 6 above al I. c) Taking up one s cross and follo,ving. This refers to shouldering a particul ar responsibil ity that the Lord lays upon u and fa ithfully discharging the dutie that are attached to it. It also involves the suffering that accompanies shoul dering such a cross. Crosses always hurt : the) inflict pain on the one ,vho carries then1. Just as ou r Lord l-1 in1se Ir rook up a cross and perforn1ed the dut ie!:> 1t entai led, I1e now asks ~I ts se riou fo llo\, ers to do the sa n1 e. My mi11d respo11tl~'. .. My n1i nd respond to all of th ts ,, nh an irre ligious question ..Just,, ho doe, thl' L,ord th ink l lei::, to dcn1and ~uch l1 1lei.?_tl1ncl' '- of 11 ts fo l lo,, ers'}" To ,l\ k It '" to ,1 11"'' l'r It I le 1 the LJord ! I le ts tht' ()ne ~ ho i" 111 charge, I le t \ the: ()ne ~ ho h.1" .111 thl' right s. I I ts ,, i!)h is 111) con1 111.1nd ,\ nu Ill' i!) not asking I lis follo ,, cr'l to do .u1, nhJrl' than \\hat I le I lin,..,c lf,, t1.., ,, 111111~ to Lh) ..... I !e left t ' c1 \ bod , ,tnd t' \ t't, th till! ,, ht..·11 . .,, . '-'- 11e can1e to this t' Lt tt h, tonk up l it'> Ltll"'> and foll o,\ cd 111.., Fathe,·..,,, 111. \\. e,Hl' 1n (,ood ( 'on1p,Hl) ,, hen,, L' count ,1nd P") the high LO">l nl l ' h1 i\ t t.lll dl '>L tplt· ~h tp 1