The following post is a few months old:
One of the failures of today's evangelicalism is that we fail to mention the cost of discipleship when we evangelize, and I have been guilty of this as much as anyone. I put a couple thousand miles on our vehicle recently and that usually means listening to a few more sermons or teachings from R. C. Sproul than I usually do. I had to go back into his archives a little bit to find one that I had not heard and I'll give you easy directions to listen to it at the end of this post. Need I add that what you will hear will be eons in wisdom and knowledge beyond what I can type out?
You have close friends....maybe you have a wife and children....maybe even grown children. If your plans are no more than just joining into fellowship of a church because it's something that you think that you should probably do....don't worry about the cost of discipleship....for there will be very little. There won't be any quantifiable cost to you involved in just joining a church or a Bible study....unless that church actually preaches the gospel of Jesus Christ or that Bible study moves quickly beyond the milk of the Word.
Your parents...whom you deeply love...may show deep disappointment if you become a Christian. That's a true cost. R. C. Sproul had this happen to him with his mother, and I experienced the same thing with mine. It's very difficult and in my case it turned out to be over three decades of praying for wisdom in presenting the gospel to her... and asking for forgiveness of God for the many times that I felt that I failed miserably. Your family may reject you. Now there's a real cost, but if your not able to pay it then just sit back and let others do the work.
A good friend will stay your friend but you will either wind up letting him alone in his life without Christ or you will try again and again to present the gospel to him and find that although you still may be friends you really don't have much to talk about anymore.
Doctrines come with a cost. If you don't want to pay it then stay away from doctrine. Doctrine is simply a biblical truth.....that often is not simple! If you stay with the basic Bible studies forever then there will be little to no cost to you. Do you have a serious hobby? Most people do. Is there something you have worked at for years and you excel at? Maybe you're a scratch golfer? I was a scratch golfer....I'd hit the ball and have to scratch my head but maybe you actually know how to play the game? If you apply yourself to the Word of God with the same dedication then it will most likely cost you. You may have to leave the church that you love. Other Christians may consider you divisive. Stick with the golf if you don't want to pay the cost.
These are really minor costs compared to what others have paid. Your wife may wind up leaving you. Your kids may hardly ever bring the grand kids over. I've witnessed these things with friends. We have all read stories in the news where Christians lost their business or their livelihood because of their Christian faith. Every one of us should never allow much time to pass at all without thinking about and praying for Christians around this world who suffer severe persecution and may even lose their lives because of their faith in Jesus Christ!
These words were brief and not very profound. Here are some more not-very-profound words...that great philosopher Stephen K. Bannon used to say on his radio program...."If your taking flak....then you must be over the target." Are you taking flak? If not...you may want to ask yourself why. My primary intention in this post was not to make a list of things that will cost you but rather to point out that we in America all too often fail to mention any costs at all as we ....'share the gospel.' Ironically there is a cost here but it is to America itself as the resulting church turns out to be week...society crumbles....and we find ourselves exactly where we are today.
Ligonier.org
Click on 'learn' at the top of the page
Scroll down and click on 'sermons'
Scroll down a few pages until you come to 'The Cost Of Discipleship."
One of the failures of today's evangelicalism is that we fail to mention the cost of discipleship when we evangelize, and I have been guilty of this as much as anyone. I put a couple thousand miles on our vehicle recently and that usually means listening to a few more sermons or teachings from R. C. Sproul than I usually do. I had to go back into his archives a little bit to find one that I had not heard and I'll give you easy directions to listen to it at the end of this post. Need I add that what you will hear will be eons in wisdom and knowledge beyond what I can type out?
You have close friends....maybe you have a wife and children....maybe even grown children. If your plans are no more than just joining into fellowship of a church because it's something that you think that you should probably do....don't worry about the cost of discipleship....for there will be very little. There won't be any quantifiable cost to you involved in just joining a church or a Bible study....unless that church actually preaches the gospel of Jesus Christ or that Bible study moves quickly beyond the milk of the Word.
Your parents...whom you deeply love...may show deep disappointment if you become a Christian. That's a true cost. R. C. Sproul had this happen to him with his mother, and I experienced the same thing with mine. It's very difficult and in my case it turned out to be over three decades of praying for wisdom in presenting the gospel to her... and asking for forgiveness of God for the many times that I felt that I failed miserably. Your family may reject you. Now there's a real cost, but if your not able to pay it then just sit back and let others do the work.
A good friend will stay your friend but you will either wind up letting him alone in his life without Christ or you will try again and again to present the gospel to him and find that although you still may be friends you really don't have much to talk about anymore.
Doctrines come with a cost. If you don't want to pay it then stay away from doctrine. Doctrine is simply a biblical truth.....that often is not simple! If you stay with the basic Bible studies forever then there will be little to no cost to you. Do you have a serious hobby? Most people do. Is there something you have worked at for years and you excel at? Maybe you're a scratch golfer? I was a scratch golfer....I'd hit the ball and have to scratch my head but maybe you actually know how to play the game? If you apply yourself to the Word of God with the same dedication then it will most likely cost you. You may have to leave the church that you love. Other Christians may consider you divisive. Stick with the golf if you don't want to pay the cost.
These are really minor costs compared to what others have paid. Your wife may wind up leaving you. Your kids may hardly ever bring the grand kids over. I've witnessed these things with friends. We have all read stories in the news where Christians lost their business or their livelihood because of their Christian faith. Every one of us should never allow much time to pass at all without thinking about and praying for Christians around this world who suffer severe persecution and may even lose their lives because of their faith in Jesus Christ!
These words were brief and not very profound. Here are some more not-very-profound words...that great philosopher Stephen K. Bannon used to say on his radio program...."If your taking flak....then you must be over the target." Are you taking flak? If not...you may want to ask yourself why. My primary intention in this post was not to make a list of things that will cost you but rather to point out that we in America all too often fail to mention any costs at all as we ....'share the gospel.' Ironically there is a cost here but it is to America itself as the resulting church turns out to be week...society crumbles....and we find ourselves exactly where we are today.
Ligonier.org
Click on 'learn' at the top of the page
Scroll down and click on 'sermons'
Scroll down a few pages until you come to 'The Cost Of Discipleship."
