The Cost of Non-Discipleship

It was when we were singing a while ago that great song, All I Have is Christ that I realised we don't talk in terms of the cost of not following Jesus. 

But as I ran my hell-bound race

Indifferent to the cost.

I think especially in our setting we talk- quite rightly- about the cost of deciding to become a believer. But maybe we should be a lot more bold about talking about how costly it is not to follow Jesus. And also challenge ourselves and local believers in our walk that there is a cost to others if we are not following Jesus with everything we have, but are being lukewarm followers. Talking about the cost, I realised, had become very one dimensional. This is what David Platt has to say about it in his comments from Matthew 4.19,

'Come follow me,' Jesus said, 'and I will make you fishers of men.'

Discipleship is undoubtedly costly, but as you consider the cost of discipleship, I beg you to consider the cost of non-discipleship. What if you choose to reject Jesus, to live for yourself and to die in your sin? What if you choose to settle for casual, cultural Christianity that never truly encounters Christ? Consider what the cost will be for our lives. Eternity is at stake. The wages of sin is death (Rom 6:23), and death apart from a saving relationship with Jesus Christ means that an eternal hell is your destination. Don't be deceived: the cost of non-discipleship is far greater than the cost of discipleship. 

And also consider the cost for our community. Your non-discipleship means that the people who know you get a picture of a half-hearted, lukewarm Christianity and a puny, pathetic Christ. Instead, we want to show people that Jesus is worthy of more than Sunday morning or even small group attendance; He's worthy of our lives and our possessions, our dreams and our ambitions. He's worthy of it all, and we gladly lay it all down for Him. Let's make known the good news of a King for whom it is worth losing everything. 

Finally, consider the cost for the world if we aren't committed learners and followers of Christ. How is it that billions of people have still never heard this gospel? Surely it is at least in part because we have been content with business as usual in the church, instead of realizing what it means to really follow the Jesus of the Bible and to spend our lives spreading the gospel of the kingdom to the ends of the earth. Failing to follow Jesus truly has global consequences.