Counting the Cost of Following Jesus

5 Mins

Most of us put faith in Jesus without analyzing the cost of discipleship. With affection for the Son of God and deep gratitude for grace, we committed our lives to his life. We entered this relationship with as much hesitancy as one gives agreeing to the “Terms of Service” on an app, unconcerned with the fine print, eager to get started.

In Luke 14, Jesus confronted a crowd. Some of them sensed the presence of heaven on earth. Some of them were merely enamored with the excitement Jesus brought to their community. Many were shoppers, not seekers, not at all looking for a savior. Most were just browsing. Jesus gave a warning to those contemplating a commitment. The potential followers needed to know that life in his service, life as his disciple, includes a cost; that commitment to Jesus, by comparison, would make all other relationships look like hatred. He wanted the crowd to consider the cost like a builder thinks carefully about her capacity for follow-through and finishing her project. He wanted them to understand what they were saying “Yes” to—like a king making battle plans and assessing his forces before commencing an attack.

Throughout history, terrible things have been done to followers of Christ. In Acts 7, Stephen gave a bold sermon summarizing God’s faithfulness throughout the Old Testament, culminating in the arrival of Jesus. Religious leaders dragged him out of the city and killed him. If you’ve never read Foxe’s Book of Martyrs, you can find it free online. Skim through the stories of the price men and women have paid for faith. The cost is real. Follow The Voice of the Martyrs on Instagram (@VOM_USA). Ministers of reconciliation often experience violent reactions.

The result of torture or death is not the only measure of a faithful witness, as Christian cost is measured differently in the Western world. Here, faith in Jesus comes with a seemingly smaller price. The discrepancy isn’t good news or bad news. Christians around the globe share an equal calling to bear witness, even if the potential cost remains unequal.

Jesus wants us to know that the disciple’s packing list has only one item—bring a cross. Many love to wear the symbol of his suffering, often forgetting that it symbolizes every Believer’s daily sacrifice—our will for His will, our flesh for His Spirit, our pleasures for His purposes.

Counting the cost on this side of faith means carrying a cross (figuratively) every day—never knowing when God will ask us to lie down on it so we can be nailed to it. Discipleship with the potential for great cost is what we said “Yes” to; it’s what we signed up for.

Here are a few ways, if you live in the West, that you may experience the cost of following Christ:

BEING MISUNDERSTOOD. Asking about a coworker’s faith might be misunderstood as judgment. Inviting a new friend to church or inquiring how you can pray for them could be received as aggressive. Telling a desperate friend that the only hope for their emptiness is a relationship with Jesus could go sideways in seven kinds of awkwardness. But each of these hypotheticals could also go wonderfully well. Who knows how the Lord might move after you move? Imagine the beautiful fruit that could come from your compassionate questions and gentle efforts as an ambassador of Christ. Go public with your faith, realizing that being misunderstood is not a high cost next to the privilege of witnessing all that Jesus is, to all that he can do.

FAMILY SUPPORT. When Jesus takes hold of your heart, it is possible that some family members will disagree. They might shut down conversations around faith. Your family might threaten consequences if you continue following Christ. This is not small, stinging only for a few seconds. This could change relationships and alter how you communicate, how you commemorate holidays—for years. But press on with Jesus, all the while praying that your family someday believes.

FRIEND GROUP MOMENTS. Choosing holiness might look like passing on the invite to pre-game before a night out to dinner. Or leaving early from a hangout that turns into a drinking session with most of the group out of control. The decision to miss out on what others enjoy, despite accompanying costs, is worth it. You practice wisdom and discernment, knowing what environments contradict your commitment to godliness.

CAREER ADVANCEMENT. Following Jesus at work might include a price to pay when refusing to compromise your ethics. It could dent relationships when you choose to sit out ungodly experiences on a work trip or excess at the office Christmas party. Your workplace is your mission field. Like other mission fields, sometimes, the missionaries are embraced. Sometimes, the missionaries are chased from the village. Follow Jesus the best you can, leaving the results and any costs in God’s hands.

DATING RELATIONSHIPS. They might be beautiful, handsome, charming, hilarious, or so much fun—but the question remains: Who is the Lord of their life? Snuffing out a romantic spark because the other person does not yet know Jesus is a sizable cost, but it honors the Scriptures and protects your heart.

For we who are already in Christ, it is more accurate to say that we absorb the cost more than we count it. We have already given our “Yes.” We endure with courage and faith. We recognize that rejection and persecution are part of the fellowship of his sufferings. But be encouraged; Jesus is counting. In Matthew 5:11-12, Jesus describes persecuted Christians as blessed, promising heavenly rewards. In Revelation 6:9-11, we see honor given to those killed because of the Word of God and their testimonies.

There is a way to view the sufferings of discipleship as gifts of sacrifice rather than only a cost. When Jesus endured the cross and despised its shame, a joy was set before him. “Consider him who endured such opposition from sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.” (Hebrews 12:3 NIV)

Consider the cost, identifying a joy before you. It is an honor to represent Jesus, to carry light into dark places. There is a privilege in serving others, even if they misunderstand you, exclude you, or hurt you. It is all worth it—that in all things, Christ might be glorified. Paul the Apostle faced suffering many times. Let’s adopt his thinking: “I eagerly expect and hope that I will in no way be ashamed, but will have sufficient courage so that now as always Christ will be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death. For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain.” (Philippians 1:20-21 NIV)

Scripture References

“Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me.

Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

25Large crowds were traveling with Jesus, and turning to them he said:

“If anyone comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters—yes, even their own life—such a person cannot be my disciple.

And whoever does not carry their cross and follow me cannot be my disciple.

“Suppose one of you wants to build a tower. Won’t you first sit down and estimate the cost to see if you have enough money to complete it?

For if you lay the foundation and are not able to finish it, everyone who sees it will ridicule you,

saying, ‘This person began to build and wasn’t able to finish.’

“Or suppose a king is about to go to war against another king. Won’t he first sit down and consider whether he is able with ten thousand men to oppose the one coming against him with twenty thousand?

If he is not able, he will send a delegation while the other is still a long way off and will ask for terms of peace.

In the same way, those of you who do not give up everything you have cannot be my disciples.

“Salt is good, but if it loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again?

It is fit neither for the soil nor for the manure pile; it is thrown out.

“Whoever has ears to hear, let them hear.”

1Then the high priest asked Stephen, “Are these charges true?”

2To this he replied: “Brothers and fathers, listen to me! The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham while he was still in Mesopotamia, before he lived in Harran.

3‘Leave your country and your people,’ God said, ‘and go to the land I will show you.’

4“So he left the land of the Chaldeans and settled in Harran. After the death of his father, God sent him to this land where you are now living.

5He gave him no inheritance here, not even enough ground to set his foot on. But God promised him that he and his descendants after him would possess the land, even though at that time Abraham had no child.

6God spoke to him in this way: ‘For four hundred years your descendants will be strangers in a country not their own, and they will be enslaved and mistreated.

7But I will punish the nation they serve as slaves,’ God said, ‘and afterward they will come out of that country and worship me in this place.’

8Then he gave Abraham the covenant of circumcision. And Abraham became the father of Isaac and circumcised him eight days after his birth. Later Isaac became the father of Jacob, and Jacob became the father of the twelve patriarchs.

9“Because the patriarchs were jealous of Joseph, they sold him as a slave into Egypt. But God was with him

10and rescued him from all his troubles. He gave Joseph wisdom and enabled him to gain the goodwill of Pharaoh king of Egypt. So Pharaoh made him ruler over Egypt and all his palace.

11“Then a famine struck all Egypt and Canaan, bringing great suffering, and our ancestors could not find food.

12When Jacob heard that there was grain in Egypt, he sent our forefathers on their first visit.

13On their second visit, Joseph told his brothers who he was, and Pharaoh learned about Joseph’s family.

14After this, Joseph sent for his father Jacob and his whole family, seventy-five in all.

15Then Jacob went down to Egypt, where he and our ancestors died.

16Their bodies were brought back to Shechem and placed in the tomb that Abraham had bought from the sons of Hamor at Shechem for a certain sum of money.

17“As the time drew near for God to fulfill his promise to Abraham, the number of our people in Egypt had greatly increased.

18Then ‘a new king, to whom Joseph meant nothing, came to power in Egypt.’

19He dealt treacherously with our people and oppressed our ancestors by forcing them to throw out their newborn babies so that they would die.

20“At that time Moses was born, and he was no ordinary child. For three months he was cared for by his family.

21When he was placed outside, Pharaoh’s daughter took him and brought him up as her own son.

22Moses was educated in all the wisdom of the Egyptians and was powerful in speech and action.

23“When Moses was forty years old, he decided to visit his own people, the Israelites.

24He saw one of them being mistreated by an Egyptian, so he went to his defense and avenged him by killing the Egyptian.

25Moses thought that his own people would realize that God was using him to rescue them, but they did not.

26The next day Moses came upon two Israelites who were fighting. He tried to reconcile them by saying, ‘Men, you are brothers; why do you want to hurt each other?’

27“But the man who was mistreating the other pushed Moses aside and said, ‘Who made you ruler and judge over us?

28Are you thinking of killing me as you killed the Egyptian yesterday?’

29When Moses heard this, he fled to Midian, where he settled as a foreigner and had two sons.

30“After forty years had passed, an angel appeared to Moses in the flames of a burning bush in the desert near Mount Sinai.

31When he saw this, he was amazed at the sight. As he went over to get a closer look, he heard the Lord say:

32‘I am the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.’ Moses trembled with fear and did not dare to look.

33“Then the Lord said to him, ‘Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy ground.

34I have indeed seen the oppression of my people in Egypt. I have heard their groaning and have come down to set them free. Now come, I will send you back to Egypt.’

35“This is the same Moses they had rejected with the words, ‘Who made you ruler and judge?’ He was sent to be their ruler and deliverer by God himself, through the angel who appeared to him in the bush.

36He led them out of Egypt and performed wonders and signs in Egypt, at the Red Sea and for forty years in the wilderness.

37“This is the Moses who told the Israelites, ‘God will raise up for you a prophet like me from your own people.’

38He was in the assembly in the wilderness, with the angel who spoke to him on Mount Sinai, and with our ancestors; and he received living words to pass on to us.

39“But our ancestors refused to obey him. Instead, they rejected him and in their hearts turned back to Egypt.

40They told Aaron, ‘Make us gods who will go before us. As for this fellow Moses who led us out of Egypt—we don’t know what has happened to him!’

41That was the time they made an idol in the form of a calf. They brought sacrifices to it and reveled in what their own hands had made.

42But God turned away from them and gave them over to the worship of the sun, moon and stars. This agrees with what is written in the book of the prophets:

“ ‘Did you bring me sacrifices and offerings

forty years in the wilderness, people of Israel?

43You have taken up the tabernacle of Molek

and the star of your god Rephan,

the idols you made to worship.

Therefore I will send you into exile’ beyond Babylon.

44“Our ancestors had the tabernacle of the covenant law with them in the wilderness. It had been made as God directed Moses, according to the pattern he had seen.

45After receiving the tabernacle, our ancestors under Joshua brought it with them when they took the land from the nations God drove out before them. It remained in the land until the time of David,

46who enjoyed God’s favor and asked that he might provide a dwelling place for the God of Jacob.

47But it was Solomon who built a house for him.

48“However, the Most High does not live in houses made by human hands. As the prophet says:

49“ ‘Heaven is my throne,

and the earth is my footstool.

What kind of house will you build for me?

says the Lord.

Or where will my resting place be?

50Has not my hand made all these things?’

51“You stiff-necked people! Your hearts and ears are still uncircumcised. You are just like your ancestors: You always resist the Holy Spirit!

52Was there ever a prophet your ancestors did not persecute? They even killed those who predicted the coming of the Righteous One. And now you have betrayed and murdered him—

53you who have received the law that was given through angels but have not obeyed it.”

54When the members of the Sanhedrin heard this, they were furious and gnashed their teeth at him.

55But Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit, looked up to heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God.

56“Look,” he said, “I see heaven open and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.”

57At this they covered their ears and, yelling at the top of their voices, they all rushed at him,

58dragged him out of the city and began to stone him. Meanwhile, the witnesses laid their coats at the feet of a young man named Saul.

59While they were stoning him, Stephen prayed, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.”

60Then he fell on his knees and cried out, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them.” When he had said this, he fell asleep.

20I eagerly expect and hope that I will in no way be ashamed, but will have sufficient courage so that now as always Christ will be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death.

21For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain.

2fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

3Consider him who endured such opposition from sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.

9When he opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain because of the word of God and the testimony they had maintained.

10They called out in a loud voice, “How long, Sovereign Lord, holy and true, until you judge the inhabitants of the earth and avenge our blood?”

11Then each of them was given a white robe, and they were told to wait a little longer, until the full number of their fellow servants, their brothers and sisters, were killed just as they had been.

Kyle Dunn

Kyle Dunn serves as Lead Pastor for People of Hope Church—a non-denominational church plant in Murfreesboro, Tennessee. He is a graduate of Baylor University and Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. Kyle and his wife, Stacy, have been married for thirty-four years. They have three wonderful children who are now in their twenties. Kyle enjoys traveling, reading history, bombarding his family with facts about history, and trying new restaurants with Stacy.