Category E: Radical Discipleship

The Cost of Following Jesus

This is where most Christians fail.

They want Jesus as Savior (to escape hell) but not as Lord (to rule their lives). They want forgiveness without discipleship. Eternal life without sacrifice.

Jesus says: That's not an option.

1. Count the Cost

"For which of you, wanting to build a tower, doesn't sit down first and compute the cost to see if he has enough money to complete it? Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish the tower, all who see it will begin to make fun of him. They will say, 'This man began to build and was not able to finish!'"

— Luke 14:28–30 (NET)

Jesus is not trying to make discipleship appealing. He's exposing what it actually costs.

Why? Because false disciples are worse than no disciples. They claim Christ, live like the world, and bring reproach on His name.

Better to count the cost, realize you can't pay it, and walk away — than to start and quit halfway.

But here's the paradox: You CAN'T pay the cost in your own strength. But if you're willing to pay it, God will empower you to endure (Philippians 2:13).

Application: Have you counted the cost? Do you understand what you're signing up for? Following Jesus will cost you everything. Are you willing?

2. You Must Hate Father and Mother

"If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother, and wife and children, and brothers and sisters, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple."

— Luke 14:26 (NET)

Wait — hate?

Jesus is using hyperbole to make an absolute point: Your love for Christ must be so much greater than your love for family that by comparison, your love for family looks like hate.

This doesn't mean:

• Treat your family with contempt
• Abandon your responsibilities (1 Timothy 5:8 — "But if someone does not provide for his own, especially his own family, he has denied the faith")
• Be cruel or harsh

This means:

• Jesus has ultimate priority
• If your family demands you disobey Christ, you choose Christ
• If following Jesus costs you your family relationships, you follow Jesus anyway

"Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me."

— Matthew 10:37 (NET)

Application: Does your family have more influence over your decisions than Jesus does? Do you compromise obedience to keep peace with family? If yes, repent. Jesus is Lord, not your family.

3. Take Up Your Cross Daily

"And he said to all, 'If anyone wants to become my follower, he must deny himself, take up his cross daily, and follow me.'"

— Luke 9:23 (NET)

What does "take up your cross" mean?

In Jesus' day, if you saw someone carrying a cross, you knew one thing: they're going to die.

Taking up your cross = dying to yourself. Daily. Not once at conversion. Daily.

This means:

• Your desires don't rule you — Christ does
• Your preferences are submitted to His will
• Your comfort is secondary to His mission
• You die to self every single day

"I have been crucified with Christ, and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me."

— Galatians 2:20 (NET)

Application: What desire do you need to crucify today? What preference do you need to surrender? Kill it. Take up your cross. Follow Him.

4. Lose Your Life to Find It

"For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it."

— Matthew 16:25 (NET)

The paradox of discipleship:

If you cling to your life — your comfort, your plans, your safety, your reputation — you'll lose what matters most.

But if you give up your life for Jesus — if you spend it, sacrifice it, pour it out for His kingdom — you'll gain true life.

What does this look like practically?

• Missions: Leaving comfort to go to a hard place
• Martyrdom: Being killed for your faith (ultimate loss of physical life to gain eternal life)
• Daily dying: Sacrificing your preferences, comfort, ease for kingdom purposes

Application: What are you holding onto? What are you protecting? Let it go. Lose your life for Jesus' sake. That's where you'll find it.

5. No One Who Looks Back Is Fit

"Jesus said to him, 'No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God.'"

— Luke 9:62 (NET)

Context: Someone said, "I will follow you, Lord, but first let me say goodbye to my family" (Luke 9:61).

Jesus' response: If you're looking back with longing, you're not ready.

This doesn't mean you can't say goodbye to family. This means: Don't start following Jesus and then constantly look back with regret at what you left behind.

Lot's wife looked back and turned into a pillar of salt (Genesis 19:26). Don't be her.

Application: Have you been looking back? Wishing you could go back to your old life? Missing your old sins? Stop. Fix your eyes on Jesus. Press forward.

6. Let the Dead Bury Their Own Dead

"He said to another, 'Follow me.' But he replied, 'Lord, first let me go and bury my father.' But Jesus said to him, 'Let the dead bury their own dead, but as for you, go and proclaim the kingdom of God.'"

— Luke 9:59–60 (NET)

This seems harsh. But notice: The man didn't say "my father just died." He said "let me first go and bury my father" — which often meant "let me wait until my father dies and I receive my inheritance, THEN I'll follow you."

Jesus' point: Don't delay obedience.

The spiritually dead (unbelievers) can handle the physical dead. But you — the living — have a mission: proclaim the kingdom.

Application: What excuse are you using to delay obedience? "After I finish school." "After I get married." "After I retire." Stop delaying. Obey now.

7. Renounce All

"In the same way therefore not one of you can be my disciple if he does not renounce all his own possessions."

— Luke 14:33 (NET)

Renounce = give up your claim to, release ownership of.

This doesn't mean:

• Sell everything (though Jesus did command that to the rich young ruler whose wealth was his idol)
• Live in poverty (God blesses some with wealth to steward for the kingdom — 1 Timothy 6:17–19)

This means:

• Hold everything loosely
• Recognize that everything you have belongs to God
• Be willing to release anything He asks for

If God asked you to give up your house, would you? Your retirement fund? Your career? Your dream?

If the answer is no, that thing is your god.

Application: What are you unwilling to give up? Renounce it. Declare that it belongs to God, not you. Hold it loosely.

Summary of Radical Discipleship

Following Jesus costs everything:

• Your life (take up your cross)
• Your family (Jesus comes first)
• Your possessions (renounce all)
• Your plans (let the dead bury the dead)
• Your past (don't look back)

But here's the promise:

"I tell you the truth, there is no one who has left home or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields for my sake and for the sake of the gospel who will not receive in this age a hundred times as much — homes, brothers, sisters, mothers, children, fields, all with persecutions — and in the age to come, eternal life."

— Mark 10:29–30 (NET)

You give up everything. You gain infinitely more.

Application: Have you counted the cost? Are you willing to pay it? If yes, follow. If no, don't pretend to be a disciple.