Weekly Reflection – The Free Gift that Will Cost You Everything.
We live in a time that whatever does not make our lives easier and faster, is quickly replaced with something that does; and my fear today is that this microwave mentality has or could creep into the church. Has it become all about making Christianity convenient and comfortable for everyone? Is it possible that in our desperation to see people move from chair 1(an unbelieving seeker) to chair 2 (a born again committed follower of Jesus) we attempt to make the gospel quick, easy, comfortable, and convenient to the point we are no longer presenting the gospel of Jesus, to the point we are not being honest about the cost and requirements of following Jesus? We want to make the path to Christ as easy as we possibly can but there’s the potential and danger of turning grace into cheap grace and turning believing into easy believism.
What we must do is look at Jesus and how Jesus made disciples who would make disciples. And what we find is that when Jesus called people to Himself and to discipleship, as they began to move forward in response to His invitation, He would say, “Wait, stop right there. Think about this for a minute. Is this really what you want to do? Before you come to Me, don’t you think you ought to stop and at least ask the question: ‘How much does it cost? What will it really mean if I follow You?” If we want to make disciples of Jesus we must do it the way Jesus did it, Jesus was honest about what it meant to follow Him, there was no small print with Jesus.
Luke 14:25-35
“Now great crowds accompanied him, and he turned and said to them,” Luke 14:25 ESV
Great crowds were following Jesus. Question, what advice would church growth experts, seeker sensitive experts give to Jesus? “Keep them coming back. Keep doing the miracles, keep handing out free fish sandwiches, keep healing all of their physical ailments.” Seems Jesus has a different approach to making disciples who will make disciples. Instead of being consumed with building a big crowd, He seems to say something else. And what we see in this passage is Jesus shares the most brutal, honest, clear-cut picture of what it means to be a Christian, what it truly means to be a follower of Jesus Christ, what it means to truly be a disciple of Jesus. Even at the cost of losing the great crowds.
We do want the church to grow, and we do want to see more people worshipping Jesus and seeking Jesus. But if we want to make disciples of Jesus, we must do it the way Jesus did
“If anyone comes to me…” Luke 14:26a ESV
Next notice what Jesus said, “If anyone comes to Me…”. So, this is for everyone, not just some who would maybe decide to take their spirituality to another level. Salvation and following Jesus are one and the same thing. Jesus says to all who are considering following Him, “Slow down for a minute and count the cost.”
Is it free or does it cost?
- Now, I think what may make us scratch are head at this point is the truth that salvation is a free gift of God.
- Ephesians 2:8-9 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, [9] not a result of works, so that no one may boast.
- How can a free gift cost something? How can a free gift that is not a result of works have any requirements?
Illustration: 3 baskets
We have our basket full of our relationships, our life, our time, our goals, our possessions. Maybe things are not going real smooth, or something tough happens, we feel a little emptiness; and we hear about this Jesus and His promises of hope and joy and peace and freedom, and we think, “That’s what I need, I need a little Jesus in my life to make my life go better, plus they say I’ll be able to go to Heaven and not Hell.”
Unfortunately, what happens too often is they/we think Jesus is just this little basket that will fit in our basket. We just add a little Jesus to our life. But that is not the gospel of Jesus Christ. Yes, the gospel of Jesus Christ is free, it is only received by grace through faith, and it cannot be earned or deserved by any work you do. But it does cost, and it does have requirements.
Before we can receive the Jesus basket we must first set down or give up our basket. The only way to receive this free gift of salvation, is to first set down your basket, to completely give up your basket. To let go of your life, your relationships, your time, your possessions, your goals. The gospel costs us all of that.
It is a free gift that Jesus has purchased by His death and resurrection, we cannot buy it, we cannot do enough good to deserve it, but in order to receive it we must first set down our life, repent of our sin against God, and turn to Him and receive the gift.
“Salt is good, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? [35] It is of no use either for the soil or for the manure pile. It is thrown away. He who has ears to hear, let him hear.”
Salt is meant to change things, change flavor, preserve things. How does salt lose its saltiness, its ability to change things? (Dead Sea salt not table salt) To oversimplify, this can happen when it is diluted by water and reactions with other chemicals happen.
When we dilute what it means to follow Jesus and things of the world enter in, we become of no use to the mission of making disciples. Let’s make sure we are not watering down the gospel and adding things of the world to it so that it is more attractive to the world. Let’s slow down and be honest with people about what it means to follow Jesus, what it will cost, what it requires.
God willing this Sunday we will continue to look at this passage from Luke 14. I encourage you to continue reading and listening to this passage this week. I feel that God is asking us to slow down in our “disciple making”; not lose our urgency or intensity but to make sure we are not unintentionally misleading or compromising the Gospel in an attempt to “get people converted”. God has called us to make disciples of Jesus who make disciples of Jesus, not to make church attenders.
Living Hope Ministries 