March 17, 2013

The college mission trip to Biloxi, Mississippi was a great time of fellowship and spiritual journey. As Audrey and I travelled to join the students and Pastor Matt Kerner for most of the week, we were blessed to share in this experience. The days spent on this trip are a good context for me to teach and preach about the cost of discipleship as described by Jesus in Luke 14.

Luke 14 The Cost of Discipleship

Jesus dines with Pharisees, heals a man on the Sabbath, teaches about taking the lowest seat rather than the best seat, and uses the metaphor of a wedding banquet to describe the Kingdom of God. He then addresses the multitudes who were following him, describing the cost of discipleship, how they must love him more than father, mother, wife, children, even their very lives. He uses the building of a tower and the deployment of an army as examples of counting the cost. Grace is free but not cheap!

My task this morning is to apply this teaching to Christ-followers in Springfield, Missouri during an era when it is relatively easy to follow Christ, and the culture does not present persecution. The difficulty is an inner one, an orientation toward God, and taking the lower seat at the banquet. It is seeing what others do not see, of acting upon the knowledge one has in the setting where one lives. I struggle with this challenge every day as a pastor in an age when being a pastor is respectable. What is the cost of following Jesus for me, and what does it look like in my life to love him more that anyone or anything else?

Guide me today, most Holy Lord as I seek to follow where You lead, and to lead others to a deeper commitment and more radical sacrifice in this daily life. Guard me from ease and love of pleasure, use me as an example of unselfishness and complete surrender to your will and purposes.