Discipleship – What is the cost?

Here is a question you will find only here at Being the Church even though it is central to our existence with being Christ’s disciple. To effectively and consistently grow in our Christ-likeness how much of a commitment is necessary? How much of our time should be spent growing in our Christ-likeness? First should we ask are we interested in being Christ’s disciples, in being Christ-like?

Looking at the Great Commission we see Jesus’ command to go and make disciples baptizing them – the disciples. What does it mean to be a disciple of Jesus? Jesus states in Luke 9:23 “Then he said to them all: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me.” If you want to be baptized you must want to be Christ’s disciple.

Jesus further states in Luke 14 that we must “count the cost” to be His disciple. One of those “costs” is our time. How much time would be necessary to fulfill Christ’s command to not only be but make disciples?

Let’s look at the typical Sunday morning service, traditional Christian. How much time do they spend growing in their Christ-likeness? Easily, 80% of their weekly Christian activity is the Sunday morning church service. Rarely, do Christians participate in any other disciple-making activity beyond Sunday morning. How effective is the Sunday morning service in discipling?

If you see discipleship as a skill, ask yourself how do you best learn a skill? For example, if you wish to learn how to speak publicly would you learn best by sitting through a weekly lecture, especially one you cannot ask questions? How about being a counselor? Would it be best to experience one-on-one education and training or at least be in a small group with the opportunity to interact? Absolutely!

So, what would be a Christ trained disciple? “Come follow me and I will make you fishers of men” Jesus commands in Matthew 4:19. Acts 1:8 Jesus charges “But, you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” Christ’s disciples begin with evangelism and continues as directed in Matthew 28:19,20 through disciple-making to Kingdom building.

That type of discipling takes more time than a Sunday morning lecture.