The Cost of Discipleship, Matt 16:24-26

The Cost of Discipleship
Matthew 16:24-26



By Pastor Brian
Fort Bend Community Church
2015.02.23
Dallas Theological Seminary
Houston Campus
Chapel



Introduction

1. Thirty-seven years ago when I was in my first year at Dallas Seminary, I preached for the first time in my life in a student retreat. I still remember that message, my first ever sermon. I spoke for 20 minutes on Matthew 16:24-26, on "the Cost of Discipleship."

The same title as Dietrich Bonhoeffer's famous book, "The Cost of Discipleship." This young and talented theologian paid the ultimate price of discipleship. He was murdered by Hitler at the age of 39 in 1945.

2. I brought a long-stem rose to the pulpit as object lesson. I teared the petals away one by one and the leaves away one by one. At last only the long stem was left. And I waved it and said, "This is the cost of discipleship. If you want to follow Christ, it will cost you everything."

I was 22-23 years old, I thought I gave my life to Jesus and gave up a career in computer, I was following Jesus. I broke up with my girl friend two weeks into my first semester at seminary, I was giving up everything to follow Jesus.

How naive I was.

After 37 years, today I have a total different view of the cost of discipleship. It is not that simple and not that easy. The pastorate is full of ups and downs, highs and lows. And the cost of following Jesus is a daily challenge.

I became upset and angry when people talked behind my back. I was hurt.
When people criticize my children or my wife, usually both, I wanted to hit them.
When people are leaving, I felt abandoned and depressed.
When I was doing more than others, I felt injustice and unfair.

37 years, it was hard to follow Jesus wholeheartedly. No reserves, no retreats, and no regrets are hard. I gain a new perspective of Matthew 16:24-28.


I. If you want to follow Jesus, you have to take up the cost.

1. In Matthew 16:24, Jesus said, ""If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me."

There are three imperatives for those who want to follow Jesus:

a) He must deny himself.
b) He must take up his cross. And
c) He must follow Me.

That is the cost of discipleship.

2. Of the three commands, the second one, "he must take up his cross," is the contextual big idea. The number one command for those who want to follow Jesus is taking up his cross.

For Jesus to say this to his disciples, it was dramatic and even unthinkable. For the cross was the symbol of great suffering and shame. The Romans used it to humiliate their subjects and dared anyone to take up the cross if they wanted to rebel. The cross represented the most painful death, hanging on three nails for 6 to 30 hours bleeding to death, naked in the public for everyone to see. When Jesus commanded his followers to take up the cross, he gave the ultimate challenge to us to give up everything to follow him. No reserves, no retreats, and no regrets.

Jesus said, "And he who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me." (Matt 10:38)

And in the same context, he said, "He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me; and he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me." (Matt 10:37)

3. I don't know about you, but in the Chinese culture, there is nothing more important than our parents and our children. I love my mom and dad. I love my daughter and my son.  I am willing to make every sacrifice for them. No reservations whatsoever. Jesus said, "He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me." "He who loves son of daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me."

He is not saying we should not love our parents and children. He is saying that he must come first above and beyond our love for our family.

He put taking up the cross right in the middle of the context of our everyday life. Taking up the cross means our daily priority, it means our schedules, it means our focus, it means our devotion.

It means following Jesus without any reservations.


II. If you want to follow Jesus, you have to deny yourself and follow Him.

1. Jesus used two additional imperatives to explain his central idea of taking up the cross. The first one is the negative command, "deny yourself." The second one is the positive command, "Follow me."

2. To deny yourself. The verb is the same word Matthew used to describe Peter denying Christ three times. To deny yourself means to refuse to recognize or to acknowledge yourself. Say no to yourself.

Saying no to yourself is hard, isn't it? I have a hard time saying no to good food, to my sexual urge, to my wants. I am sure that you all don't have this problem.

To take up the cross, it means to say no to yourself because of Jesus.

3. Two years ago, there were two Korean missionaries visiting us. One of them served in China for the last 15 years. All three of his children were born in China. 13 years old, 10 years old, and a 8 years old. They love Chinese as if they are indebted to the Chinese. With no reservation. In the 90's, just when China opened up, there were over 6,000 Korean missionaries serving in China. They said goodbye to their parents, went to the mission fields and stayed there, served there for years. And they had their hands in almost every major Christian ministries when China opened up in the early 80's. Today China boasts about having over 100 millions Christians and becoming the country with the most Christians in the history of the world. We have the Korean missionaries to thank. They made the sacrifice and shown us what it meant to follow Jesus and to deny yourself.

What have we said no to when we follow Jesus?

3. The second aspect of taking of the cross is "to follow" in verse 24. To deny yourself, take up the cross and follow me. The verb is in present tense. It means a daily following. A lifestyle. A way of life. Following Jesus does not mean saying no to just one thing or two things. It means a lifestyle of saying no to yourself. It means taking up the cross daily. To follow Jesus is to make the daily decision of devoting yourself to Christ.


III. We follow Christ because of Christ.

1. Why do we want to deny ourselves, take up the cross and follow Christ? What is the reason?

Verse 25 gives us the reason why. "For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it; but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it."

Losing our life for his sake in order to finding the abundant life Jesus promises. The contrast is between, "losing" and "finding"; the aorist subjective and the future indicative.

The Lord is saying that whoever lives only to save his earthly, physical life, his ease and comfort and acceptance by the world, will lose his opportunity for the abundant life. But whoever is willing to give up his earthly, worldly life and to suffer and die, if necessary, for Christ’s sake, will find the abundant life.

2. May be you are thinking, "it is easy for the disciples like Peter and John to make the decision to lose their lives in exchange for the abundant life. They did not have much life to start with. They were poor and their lives were hard. To give it up for the abundant life is a no brainer. They had a chance to become a world changers. Their names are now written on the gates of heavens. The choice was easy."

But for us today, it is a different story. We have a good life, comfortable life, and a long life. We can live to a hundred year old. To lose it in order to find it is not that obvious. And the abundant life in Jesus is still very unclear, uncertain and not that attractive. Our choice is much more difficult.

We minister to a group of Rice Ph.D. students from China. They came from a poorer upbringing. They had very little to start with. But after they get their Ph.D. in computer science, they get to work in the top companies in the world, Apple, Google, Face Book, etc., and become some top earners in the world. They have much to look forward to in this life in terms of a comfortable life. And we ask them to lose it in order to find it. It is a hard sell.

3. That is why Jesus gives us a warning in verse 26. "For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?"

If we live for ourselves, this is not the abundant life even though we gain the whole world. This verse is very much against prosperity theology.

If we live happily with plenty to eat, plenty to drink and dress like princess every day but without following Christ. what will it profit us?

4. There are many good things in life. The best selling movies are love stories. Standing at the front of the big cruise ship with the love of your life behind you blowing sweet sound into your ears, it is something very appealing. That is why we go and watch the movie not one time, not two times but many times. It is good stuff. But this too does not last, right? The movie ends when the love is sinking deep into the sea. For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world?

Material processions won't last. It is like your cell phone. When the new one arrives to the store, the old ones got dump. How many of you still have the same cell phone for five years? Nothing of this world lasts, only the love of Christ remains.

5. Verse 21 talks about Christ must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised up on the third day. He went the length of the universe to love us even dying on the cross to give us the abundant life. The love of Christ is deep, lasting and fulfilling. He lost His own life so that he can gain the abundant life for us.

That is the reason that we choose to follow Christ. No reserves, no retreats, and no regrets. How much are you willing to take up the cross and follow Christ?

6. William Whiting Borden was born into affluence in Chicago in 1887, a missionary to Muslims in Northern China and the heir of the Borden, inc. family fortune, a graduate of Yale and Princeton Theological Seminary, a follower of Jesus Christ.

He died of meningitis in Egypt on his way to China, at the age of 25, never made it to China. His family gave $1 million to the China Inland Mission in His name. Two years ago, I had a chance to visit Lanzhou, China and the hospital started in his name, the Borden Memorial Hospital. A little chapel was decorated with his life story and pictures printed on the walls. His famous saying, "No Reserves. No Retreat, and No Regrets" is a summary of his life. At his dying bed, he added the final words, No Regrets. I was deeply touched.

No only Borden, there were stories of many who came to serve in the hospital. Top doctors, Dr. King, Dr. Rand.. all died before they were 40's for Christ.

Their lives are testimonies of those who take up their cross, deny themselves and follow Jesus.


Conclusion

37 years ago, I made the decision to follow Christ without knowing much about the cost.. 37 years later, after knowing what I know now, the cost of following Christ, I would still make the same decision to follow Christ. No reserves, no retreats, and no regrets.

How about you? Many of you still have a long and full life ahead of you, the decision you make to follow Christ or to live for yourself will forever change your life. What will your decision be?








Sermon Evaluation and Thoughts

1. Big Idea:

Subject: What is the cost of following Christ?
Complement: The cost of following Christ is our wholehearted devotion to Christ.

2. A' (The application situation): The audience is the seminarians at Dallas Seminary. Many of them are preparing for full-time ministry. Do we know about the cost of following Jesus? The developmental question is "WHAT."

The sermon is first applied to the speaker and then to the audience.