Well, what is the cost? During the early part of His work on Earth, Jesus called some men individually to follow after Him. We read the simple account of one of those men in Luke 5:27,28: "[Jesus] went out and noticed a tax collector named Levi sitting in the tax booth, and He said to him, 'Follow Me.' And he left everything behind, and got up and began to follow Him." This "Levi" was also known as Matthew, who would later become an apostle of Jesus, and would pen the book of the Bible that bears his name. We see here that with this simple call, Matthew left everything behind--his livelihood, his reputation; really, his whole life--and followed after Christ.
Jesus warned his disciples that life in His service would not be easy. They would have to make some very difficult decisions. He spoke about this in Luke 12:51-53, when he asked, "Do you suppose that I came to grant peace on earth? I tell you, no, but rather division; for from now on five members in one household will be divided, three against two and two against three. They will be divided, father against son and son against father, mother against daughter and daughter against mother, mother-in-law against daughter-in-law and daughter-in-law against mother-in-law." It seems very strange that the one who was prophesied to be the "Prince of Peace" in Isaiah 9:6 would have come to bring division, especially within a family--father against son, mother against daughter, and so on. We also know from the scriptures that division isn't a good thing; Jesus himself prayed for unity in John 17:20,21, saying, "I do not ask on behalf of these alone [i.e. His apostles], but for those also who believe in Me through their word; that they may all be one..."
What did He mean, then? There is a similar passage found in Matthew 10:34-39 that helps to clarify what He meant. Here, we read, "Do not think that I came to bring peace on the earth; I did not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I came to SET A MAN AGAINST HIS FATHER, AND A DAUGHTER AGAINST HER MOTHER, AND A DAUGHTER-IN-LAW AGAINST HER MOTHER-IN-LAW; and A MAN'S ENEMIES WILL BE THE MEMBERS OF HIS HOUSEHOLD. 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." The key, then, is that the one who loves father, mother, son, or daughter more than Jesus is not worthy of Him. Each one of us has to make our own decisions about Jesus--and it just may be that we are the only one in our family that chooses to serve Him. Unfortunately, that choice--whether to serve Jesus or not--can be a source of division even within a family. There has been more than one occasion in which a young girl has been disowned by her family, simply because she chose to serve Jesus in the ways we read about in scripture. If we would follow after Christ, we must be willing to risk those relations we hold dear.
Jesus continued in verse 38 of that passage, "...He who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me." To take up your cross doesn't mean simply to suffer, but to suffer for Jesus' sake. We must be willing to suffer hardship in His service.
In fact, we must be willing to give up everything--even our own lives. Jesus concludes in verse 39 by saying that, "He who has found his life will lose it, and he who has lost his life for My sake will find it." If your life and the things that you have here on this earth are so dear to you that you aren't willing to give them up, at the end of time you will have to give them up anyway--and you will have lost eternal life as well; but, if instead, you'll give up your life of selfishness and live for Christ, you will have life eternal.
Yes, being a Christian is costly, and it's important to stop and consider what kind of commitment one is making when deciding to serve Him. In Luke 14:26-33, Jesus said, "Whoever does not carry his own cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple. For which one of you, when he wants to build a tower, does not first sit down and calculate the cost to see if he has enough to complete it? Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who observe it begin to ridicule him, saying, 'This man began to build and was not able to finish.' Or what king, when he sets out to meet another king in battle, will not first sit down and consider whether he is strong enough with ten thousand men to encounter the one coming against him with twenty thousand? Or else, while the other is still far away, he sends a delegation and asks for terms of peace. So then, none of you can be My disciple who does not give up all his own possessions." Jesus doesn't want part-time service; He expects complete devotion. We must be willing to give up anything that would stand between us and our God.
Yet, although the cost is great, the reward is far greater. In Mark 10:28-30, Jesus described the contrast. "Peter began to say to Him, 'Behold, we have left everything and followed You.' Jesus said, 'Truly I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or farms, for My sake and for the gospel's sake, but that he will receive a hundred times as much now in the present age, houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and farms, along with persecutions; and in the age to come, eternal life.'" He makes it clear that although one may leave everything in serving Jesus, yet he would gain (along with the hardship) much more--both in this life and in the age to come. But, He isn't promising that serving Him would make one wealthy while on Earth; far from it.
Compare the previous passage with Mark 3:32-35--"A crowd was sitting around Him, and they *said to Him, 'Behold, Your mother and Your brothers are outside looking for You.' Answering them, He *said, 'Who are My mother and My brothers?' Looking about at those who were sitting around Him, He *said, 'Behold My mother and My brothers! For whoever does the will of God, he is My brother and sister and mother.'" It may be that our family would disown us were we to come to serve Christ; yet, we would come to have a far greater family in His church--even in this life. More than this, he tells us that in the age to come, we would have eternal life!
If we have counted the cost and chosen the eternal reward rather than physical pleasure, what then? How should we behave? If we've chosen to follow after Christ, we must look to Him and not look back. There are many reasons why those who begin their journey well, may turn aside from following Jesus. In Luke 9:61,62, someone said to Jesus, "'I will follow You, Lord; but first permit me to say good-bye to those at home.' But Jesus said to him, 'No one, after putting his hand to the plow and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.'" If we look behind us when we're plowing a field instead of keeping our eyes fixed on where the end of the row should be, the furrow won't be straight; it will wander. So it will be with us. If we allow our attention to drift, we will wander from the path of service to Christ. We can't allow ourselves to brood about those things of the past that we can't change, nor can we permit ourselves to return to the sin we were once enslaved by.
In addition to all the things of which he was ashamed, there were many things the apostle Paul's past that he could have relied on, rather than relying on Jesus. In Philippians 3:13,14, Paul declared, "Brethren, I do not regard myself as having laid hold of it yet [speaking of eternal life]; but one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus." In context, Paul left behind all those earthly things in his life that he could have boasted about, all for the sake of serving Jesus. He forgot all those things, and pressed on, never looking back, but always looking to Jesus, knowing that from Him he would receive that eternal reward at the end of time.
We started out by noting that it's been said that, "A religion that gives nothing, costs nothing, and suffers nothing is worth nothing." Indeed, that's the case with Christianity. There is a great cost involved in service to Christ Jesus. The one who would serve Christ must be willing to risk family relations, willing to suffer hardship--in fact, they must give up their own life in his service--they must live for Him. Yet, the sacrifice is worth it: although there may be hardship, we gain a loving family here on earth, the family of God; and in the end, eternal life!
Having begun that journey in the service of Christ, we must, like Paul press on, never looking back. We can't remain in the past, dwelling on those things we can't change, nor can we allow ourselves to become entrapped again by those things that we once were slaves to. We can't take pride in those things we once might have boasted about. Rather, we must forget those things, and keep our eyes on Christ. We must, like Paul, press on, never looking back, but always looking to Jesus, knowing that from Him, when the time is right, we'll receive that eternal reward.
Friend, have you made that decision to forsake all, and follow after Christ? If, in the past, you made that decision, have you allowed yourself to wander from the path of His service?
