Rogate (Sunday) - Devotion in Exile

Lection for Rogate (Sunday) 
Numbers 31:1-16, 39-48      Luke 14:25-15:10 

Reading the lesson from Luke, we ask: What exactly is a disciple?  Some would say that a disciple is a student of someone, or maybe a follower of a particular individual of some renown. While this may be true, it entails more than that. A disciple is a follower of a particular teacher, who accepts unreservedly, in mind and in life, ***all*** the teachings and practices of the teacher.

Dear friends in Christ, have you ever counted the cost of discipleship? All who claim to be Christians, are to be disciples of Christ.

What is the cost of being a disciple of Christ as a parent? It means that you do not condone sin as it rears its ugly head in their life. It means that when the world’s opinions about parenting do not jive with Scriptures, you follow what God commands. It may mean, giving an ultimatum to a child because you have their eternal benefit in mind.

What is the cost of being a disciple of Christ as a friend, a peer? Friends desire us to do things that we know are not God-pleasing. They may even laugh at our choices. Who wins out? Christ, or your fear of their laughter? 

What is the cost of being a disciple of Christ as an employee? Yes, the boss might indeed be an idiot. However, God has placed him as an authority over you. Do you talk about him behind his back and break the 8th Commandment? Do you hate him in your heart, making you a murderer? Or, do you honor him, serve and obey him, love and cherish him?

What is the cost of being a disciple of Christ as a child? How do you respond to the commands of your parents and teachers? Do you gladly and obediently do as they instruct? Or is it with grumbling and complaining, the glaring look at their back as they walk away? Is it with respect that you speak to them or with scorn and derision? 

What is the cost of being a disciple of Christ as a believer in Christ? Do you speak the Word of God to friend and neighbor alike? Do you invite them to come and hear of their salvation? The cost of discipleship is that you and I live lives contrary to the rest of the world. It means that sometimes, what they’d like you to participate in, will have to be avoided. It means that God comes first in all your thoughts, even over – and against – family.

Yes, there is a great cost to be a disciple of Jesus. But really, how great is the cost?

In Jesus’ last sentence in our text, He says, “So therefore, any one of you who does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple.” Wow! That cuts through it all.  To what do you cling that keeps you from being fully a disciple of Christ? What do you love more than God and takes up more of your time than He does? New boat? Car? Home? Fishing? Hunting? Or the toys they require? Or is it a hobby or behavior that the world says is OK, like getting drunk or sexual relations outside the bonds of marriage?

Or are the things you love which you love more than God, more substantial than these things which will pass away? Is it your family, or your life? Jesus speaks to this as well. He says, “If anyone comes to me and does not hate his father and mother, his wife and children, his brothers and sisters—yes, even his own life—he cannot be my disciple. And anyone who does not carry his cross and follow me cannot be my disciple.” (vv. 26-27) 

It is depressing right now to look at this text and then at myself, and the cost of being a Christian. Too often my family, my hobbies, and my selfish desires to gratify my flesh get in the way of my becoming a true disciple of Jesus Christ.  When these things get in the way of true discipleship, they are sinful. Is it any wonder that I find them getting in the way of my discipleship? I am a sinner! But that does not excuse them in me. Nor, dear friends, does it excuse these sins in you.

Maybe you are saying, “Well then, I guess there is no way possible for me to be a disciple of Christ.  There is no way possible that I can be called a Christian.”  Or maybe, you are saying, “Pastor Jerabek’s off his nut, he’s finally gone off the deep end.”  I encourage you to stand fast and keep listening.

I have not told you anything new. This is all exactly what Jesus’ word is to us today? You know what? Jesus wants you to be where you are right now – emotionally. He wants you to feel helpless. He wants you to feel that there is no way that you can be a Christian. He wants you to give up on yourself, to think that there is not a single thing you can do. He wants you to come to this conclusion so that you no longer rely upon yourself – He wants you to be a disciple.

Dear friends in Christ, take heart! "With man, this is impossible, but with God, all things are possible" (Matthew 19:26). Do not be consumed by these demands made in this text, demands that no one on the face of this earth can possibly keep, but hear this Gospel instead with new ears. Hear it with Christian ears – the ears of a disciple. Hear in this Gospel all that your loving and merciful God has done for you and for your salvation precisely because you cannot!

What is the cost of your discipleship? God the Father willing sacrificed His own Son, because He loved you so greatly. He “willingly” gave up His only begotten Son, "that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life" (John 3:16).

Your cost for discipleship is the cost of repentance. Repentance is sorrow over your sins of loving everything and anything more than God, your breach of the 1st Commandment. Repentance includes the desire to turn from that which is sinful, and amend your sinful life. This is the desire to be a true disciple – giving up all, taking up your cross, and faithfully following Jesus. Most importantly, repentance requires that you believe that your sins are forgiven – Christ paid for them full.

Christ was a disciple of His Father, obedient to the Father’s will. He gave up His reign to take on human flesh. He gave up His own life unto death upon the cross. Throughout His walk upon the earth, He was counting the cost. He knew what was coming, He’d explained it to The Twelve. He knew the cost; the suffering, the pain, the humiliation, the bloody agony of dying nailed to a cross, these were the costs of your discipleship – your forgiveness from sin.

Jesus, the Christ, just as He instructed you in this text, so He hated His mother and His brothers for your salvation. He would not allow His blood relationships with His mother and brothers to stand in His way, but He said, "Who is my mother, and who are my brothers?" And pointing to His disciples, he said, "Here are my mother and my brothers. For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother" (Matthew 12:48 50).

Jesus counted the cost of His suffering, weighed it over against the salvation of your soul and willingly, indeed gladly, suffered all for you. For the joy of calling you His disciples and for the joy of ushering you into His heaven, He counted and paid the full cost of following Him. "It is finished," said Jesus. The price of your discipleship is paid in full. There is no outstanding debt for you to pay except the debt of love.

Even as He commands his disciples to take up their cross and follow Him, He carried His own cross. He carries your crosses. His strength fills you to stand firm and speak out boldly of your faith.  It is His mercy which moves you to forgive as you have been forgiven.

What is the cost of discipleship? You must follow Him into His house, and hear Him speak to you; to hear words of grace, mercy, and peace – comforting you, for you are His disciples.

What is the cost of discipleship? He invites you to eat with Him. He sets the table with His own body and blood, opening the doorway into the eternal upper room where you will eat with Him for all eternity with all His disciples.

What is the cost of discipleship? Believe that He has gone before you into heaven and even now.

What is the cost of discipleship? You must live every day in Christ, in all that you do – in all that Christ does in you and through you.  Amen.