What Price Discipleship?

MEMORY VERSE: “If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me.” —Luke 9:23

LUKE 9:1-6, 23-25, 57-62

THE cost of true discipleship is very high indeed, and not many through the entire age have been willing to pay the price. To most denominational Christians, belonging to a church is looked upon as a sort of symbol of respectability and good citizenship. They attend church services on Sunday when conditions are favorable, but otherwise live their lives very much as do non-Christians.

Jesus empowered his twelve apostles to cast out devils and to heal the sick, even as he had been doing. They were also to preach the Gospel of the kingdom. One of the objects of their miracles was to give more prestige and authority to their kingdom message. There are two aspects of the kingdom. There are those who are the rulers of that kingdom, and then there are the subjects of the kingdom. It was the opportunity of becoming associated with Jesus as rulers in the kingdom that primarily was introduced by Jesus and the apostles. It was to he in the age to come that the subjects of the kingdom would be blessed through these rulers. Then all the sick will be restored to health, and all the dead awakened to life.

The apostles were instructed not to take extra clothing or supplies with them as they started out in their ministry. This certainly placed a test of faith upon them, but Jesus wanted those to serve him who did so of a willing heart and not because of any temporal security they might derive from it.

Jesus said to his disciples, “If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me. For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: but whosoever will lose his life for my sake, the same shall save it. For what is a man advantaged, if he gain the whole world, and lose himself, or be cast away?”

The denial of self implies much more than giving up some of the pleasures and comforts of life. It is the denial of the privilege of ordering one’s own affairs, and the acceptance of the will of God in Christ as the rule of life. The divine will may be different for some disciples than for others. For the Twelve, when Jesus sent them out into the ministry the first time, it was God’s will that they should give up everything in the way of extra supplies of clothing, food, etc., and put their trust fully in the Lord for the needs of life.

For others it could well be the Lord’s will for them to make modest temporal provisions for their necessities, in order to be able to assist others. But in any case self is not to rule our lives, but the will of the Lord. This is the denial of self, and is the basis of our covenant with the Lord by sacrifice.—Ps. 50:5

Taking up our cross is a symbol of our being willing to follow Jesus in the way of sacrifice, even unto death, this symbolic meaning being derived from the ancient custom of requiring criminals condemned to death by crucifixion to carry their own cross from the judgment hall to the place of crucifixion. This was expected of Jesus, but the harrowing experiences during the closing hours of his sacrificial ministry had so weakened him that he was unable to do so, and another was pressed into this service to take Jesus’ place.

Having covenanted to lay down our lives in sacrifice we would suffer loss should we endeavor in any way to save our life by holding back from carrying out our consecration—“For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: but whosoever will lose his life for my sake, the same shall save it.” It is by being faithful unto death that we shall receive “the crown of life.”—Rev. 2:10

One man declared his intention of following Jesus, and Jesus said to him, “Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests; but the Son of man hath not where to lay his head.” Another man said that he would follow the Master, but requested to put it off until he had buried his father. “Jesus said to him, “Let the dead bury their dead: but go thou and preach the kingdom of God” Another man wanted to visit his friends before he embarked on the course of discipleship. But Jesus did not accept this excuse, either.

QUESTIONS

What was one of the purposes of Jesus’ miracles?

What does it mean to deny self?

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