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THA COST OF CHRISTIAN DISCIPLESHIP Luke 9:51-62 October 24

The Journey of life, if you will excuse the overly used metaphor,

offers to its travelers, two senarate roads or paths .| I speak not of

good and evil, but of commitment and poncommitment..\ In our lives we have
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the choice of being active participants, or lifeless observers ,~in the

words of a professor I once had, sitting on the curb watching the prade

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Zo by. | Most of us, however, commit ourselves to something; most of us

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iscover something in life that matters very much, and to that something
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We give ourseives.\ For some it is a service club. for others a profession,

for others 9 hobby or avocation, \ a any case, when we find that something

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and give ourselves to it?it costs u commitment to anything is expensive.
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Partisans of a political party, committed to thbt party and its eandidate,

moke considerahle exnenditures of money, time, abilities, cedication.

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Political partisanship demands thst the indivlidgal submit himsel

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And then the Church of Jesue Christ asks our commitment; our loyalty,

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our time, money and abilities--and suddenly the predictable human behaviour-

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ason this

6m 18 reversed.

love. But the chuych,
ustnot enough

Stewarshi

: dis SM aml Soanévacund life seems to be me Me OL & Subermarwe tl iran ali
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aluupe-unen which we worsnip. | shaper memhers beladng ta u Thuren io

secelive--to be served--io obtuln whatever mroduet the Church hugnens to be

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—, — r i pa
pee cals Does er 1 : 11. “ we hye a and 4 . a a a ity
Mmvne tang. | wd enould the ehareh ate rp tetines tke = sniritual sune>
a TOS | shouts fi suddenly see Lte mission tn terms of wi. inp, ond aaeari-
Piging--Instead of ginnensing moeelisms, om comfort or ceeupity--1t finda

- &: a Let “ a. wa 3 ts shar as Ge one - aihak AAD Ae de wa a a ih wld 3
-U8 TGWws ennty | I don't supposes tnege io any @4 he. pertod in my life that

mosses wWathoul someone tulling me: QT auit soing to enuech teeause I owean't

Jetulng anytning out ar it.") And 4r this single statement, repeated with

morotoncus regularity, lies the whole paridox of religious fsith in com-

Siid oug commitments

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temporary life. \ ve ecomnle curselvus te every thing else--

eoev ug; but our commitment to the churech--our £4 ,ith--hinges on what very
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tresil steing of cur personal whims. \ ats comattme nit is supposed te serve

us. \ caurehe s8 are Tull today--but tmere is mot a minister in ths pulpit

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anywhere, who t8 not poinfully aware that the commitment and faith of a

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Sreat number of his neople, cer quickly vanish, should he eay the wrong were

3 iting the wrong stand. \ mo e9 I canelude thin intradastion to A sermon

discinlesnin without tomaltment; and coms-tmeat: 1s a hollow, hypocritical

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gesture unless it costs us von thing. \ M9 illust spate this distrubing

nugeestion--I direct your *®ttention to our equally distytbing W.T. lesson

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this morning. \: move scourate statement would be I direct & your attention

co the Word of God. rom whence this euazestion came, \t make no claims

of orginulity.
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4 Jeaug und hie disciples were on their way to Jer exten. | And 48 the;

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ajonm, ‘2 mon, (Wa tthew defines him actin seribs}-or ecelesiastical

lawyer, sai@ to Jesus; UI will follow you wherever you go.?} The man took
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the inisttve--he offersd hie life. | 4nd our Tap re replied; (Pox have

noles, and birds of the sir have nests; but the con of Man has nowhere

to ley his nena") It wes on impulsive commitment: and Jesus knew that the

man had made it without realy counting the cost.\| Wild snimals have abodes,
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neste, holes, enves; men need the emfort of a home. ind a seribe,
eae —_ — —
aceastomed to hours st the we LCATIE beneh 13 sboring over the law scrolls,
—_———_

needed 9 home more than nost.\ Rut in absolute integrity our

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promise even this very baste need.\ His nies ion Was such; discipleship was

such, that 2 mtu had to forgo the security 6f home Lire, | ind so ths

immensely etpable, and mature leader of men, was re jected as 48 discinle.

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Turning to untoher man, Jesus conmanaes :(“Pa2io wme,"/ The serive had

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impulsively vounteered; this msn ls 4nanymous, : Just one of the erowd; anc
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to him same the eg]

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and bary my father,’ )1: there ever aware «2 legitimate exeuse, this ts it.

A mansimply doesn't wuilk away from the funeral of hie father.] This was

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2special:y true for the devout Jew, \ Aecording to the law, burying one's

rath

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Was Lo take absolute precedence over anything else tie perien hod

to ao.\ the law is careful to explain that under these circumstances a

man may be excused from reciting the Shema-~a rarity reserved for the most

extenuating situations. | Surely this is man's predicaacrt would have ellicted
the s: empathies of the other disciples thenseLver | Our Lordts reply (“eave
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the dead to bury the dead; as for you, go and proclaim the Kingdom of

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Goa") is this 2 revelation of 3 hidden hershness? [Was Jesus absoilutely

i don't / think

callous to human need and dignity 2% well as thé sacred law?

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c0, Por this is the same Jesun who from the eross arranged for the care of

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his own grief strieken mother, No, this is merely a very blunt and dis-

turb§ing dePinition of the eset of discipleship «| It must come first; it

must be absolute; it must commend a man's immed tate and complete dedication.

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The man wes willing; but not on Jesus! terms -and SO he too was rgected,

/

vo then this little story tells us much about the relationship

of a Christian to his Lord; and in the telling we eannet help but near a

thundering, prophetic indictment of our own churchmanship .\ The story

tells us that believing in Jesus Christ--and then following him because we

belleve is--never easy} must always come first; is an act of immediate
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obedience. | In short, diseipleship is costly~-and Lf we are not ready toa pay

the cost We are not fit to be called Christiang.

The truly disturbing aspect of this story ‘is the common, "“huminness”

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of the three poteritial disciples. | Their excuses were not contrived; they

were men of belief and Salth; |they wantadc to be discipies. \ they reflect,

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quite accurately, the stance ind position of every man as he encounters

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Jesus Christ.\ We too, have commitments that m@ke it impossible to always

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give our al1.\ Ws too must bury our dead, and say farewell, and retain order

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these men were not fit--who is "Cl surety not vel Tt

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in our homes. \ I

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wasn't the only time Jesus made what seemed to be outlandishly harsh

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demands of his followers. | Many times tne discimnles found themselves

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asking( "who, then, can he saved?) Ethics! theolgotans have struggled for

eenturies with this osssage and others like it. \ ana their consensus has hee

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that nétural man eannot noesibly fulfill the demands of Jesu. \ Only in the

monastery, only in the life of celibacy, completely withdrawn from the

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world aan 8 man afford to be a disciple on Christ's terms . \ But the message

of the N.T. is one of fove and hope--not despair and condemnation .| We know

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thit God accepts us as we are; we know that Christ loved his fumbling, half

hearted followers--and died for chen. | Bue affirm that God has_made us free

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and human--and in our freedom and humanness we cannot be perfect. \ But

this admission of ovr Praility is net a barrier behind which to hid; it
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does not negate Christ's imperatives to "would be disciples.” | Our inabilit;

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to follow on his terms does not erase the words from the N.T, or the fact

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that ne said them,

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God forgives: God accepts--in fact God hag posited his Kingdom on

the faltering, Stuntling faith of disciples like you and me. | His demands

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still cut through to us; the cost is still as great: we may fall down~-but

he is ever calling us to stand back up and be counted .\ We may not always

be able to pay it, but the cost of discipleship remains the same,

"You can't squeeze blood out of a turnip" Jene old saying goes | And

it would appear that you cannot squeeze commitment out of neople with

weak aitn.\ This seems to be the root of the problem. \ Too many of us are
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in favor of the Church, we know we ought to be doing more; we know we ought
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to give more--time, abilities ang money. \ But underneath Wwe ure waiting for

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faith to (“nappens to us.) the interest is theré--but not the motivation und

WE fo on nurturing the illusions that somedgy domethine will hanpen, some

a lial
aay DE'll lois Ube saishwace: im My OMCEL Lome somadey vabth will Yhessci te
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—_——_— —— ie Sree:

% QERA TT. hate 7 Moumhiuan! Lal iting hsblts, asked
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t4e young guest if she like isparagus, Yes, came the answer, loud and

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‘fter dinner, however. shenoticed that the asnarogus remsined on ths
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liked asparagus she asked.

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little girl's plate, antouched. \ z Lhought you

Qh I do, Ido I like aspragus a lot--but not well enough to eat.

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nes,

vi Wea too like the Church, we like tho feeling of Church membership; we like
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.6 think of ourselves as Christians. | The interest and affection are there--

but not the obedient comms enent. \ arthur MeKay,. in his book, Servants and

otewards: quates the well-known hymn ("Take thou: ourselves OQ nord, Heart
mind ond will. Through our surrendered sould, Thy Pisa fulfill. We yield

ourselves to thee, time, talents all; We hear and henceforth heed, Thy

sovereign cat." ) A hymn which clearly mxpresses the cost of discipleship,

But then he deseribes a typical church member's. prayer, having left the

As sanetuary--the melody still in his mind:

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wook God, I didn't mean that Literals) 1 oan give gome'praise to you

lf there's nothing more directly related to my interests that I must do.| 1

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Can spend an occasional hour in worship from tine to time, but it isn't

always convenient .\ eat God what I"m really looking for is some king of

bargain basement religio n. | wnat T'd veally Like to do, but 2 certain

churchly modesty forbids me to say it, is this: : Tig like to accept the

unconditional offer of lve that I see in Jesus Christ, Iim willing to

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receive 8s much as you can give’ but God, I juct don't have time toa match

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your faithfulness with my own. \ rim locking for religion at a discount."

Dietrich Ronhoeffer, 2a German pastor who was executed by the Nazi's,

wrote prophetically abut commitment, faith and its Jemands*in nis book--

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the title of which is the same as this sermon. Bonhoeffer saw thst faith

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does not just “hapnen” to a man who is patiently waiting for it.| Re: ther

the Holy Spirit ignites the snark of faith in the heart of the man who

lays his life on the line in total commitment, \ Faith becomes 4 possibility

only after it has cost us something. | In his letters from Prison Bohoeffer

wrote 3 sentence that I find myself repeating when my faith #4lters: ("Only

the believer obeys--and only the obedient truly believes. ") The whok testi-

money of dns modern s@int, in the best N.T. tradition, is that we do not

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dare call ourselves disciples until our discipleship hres cost us. | If we

profess faith, but have not sacrificed or suffered or paldyour p possession
is eheap faith, eheap srac e--which like any cheap product ceesn't last ver

—— .

a not very cheese. durable .

The Church of Jesus Thrist in America togay--needs to hear this N.T.

Presbytery : ;
story; \ue in this congregation need to hear it.: For, if the claims it makes
* SE

area etrlé we have a ist of soul searching to ao. | rt +s very easy for m2 to

stand here tnd npreich about the cost of discipleship; md itts not very

——a,

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diffienlt for you as long 25 my words are genergl in natur?. \ But in

conclusion let us experience together the uncomfortable task of being specifi

letonus see what the cost of diseip;eship is for‘us, hers tnd now, in this

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chureh snd jin this community.

I2 gannot suffer in a coneentration camp,:we can't be martyrs; I

don't think God would have us all throw our several responsibilities and

commitments to the wind and become nious and obedient hermits,

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hie naaled us tea

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his Shurch in byer.\ and be ing that ehurech involves

providing 2 program of Chr. 2d. and 4 program of fvang.\ It means pro-
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viding the mas opportunity for fellowshin together, \ue means eoncrete

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service fo our town our nation and the world 1d atl Large It means the

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responsibiility of worrhip, regularly and raieneatiy.\ Finally, in the fall

of 1964 it means providing the resources for 2 new and larger building so

that we cun mo¥# effectively do those things we are ealled to ao. | T would

—e

he a hypocrite if I told rou the tetal church drogram nas all the help

it} needs--and that we have as much money os We 8 eon use | 1 would he worse th

hypocrice if I tole you our building program will be easy and conveniant.

Tne truth is, that to be a faithful member of this Shurch js not, and

will not he say \ Poather Lt wilil be eno tly--ia fLime-- abilities and

——,. a —

VESOUreGeS,

Is thers a orice tare on Christianity? Ts there t cost of Christian

Diseinleship?

futomaticelly we say: ("peavens fos") but our text--our

situation today tells us that theere most certgintly is.| In the weexs

at us hava the cournree and intesrit

chead let us be mindful of this story:
: Eat

—T

ta sea the cost of discinleshin. \ sna ther, united in heart and spirit hy

che Eoly Soipit--let us say ta God"

“Toke Thou urselvez 0 Lord, heart, mind and will,
Throuch oum surrendewved tule, they olan eayrill
Ve owiels aurea lvae toa thes, hime, talents, ell
We heoe ard henestorth pnced--Thy Severetem esll.’

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