Pastor's Blog: The Cost of Following Jesus
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This past Wednesday, we moved into a period of preparation for Easter. The Lenten season is a time for us not only to examine our hearts so that we might be more faithful to Jesus’ calling; it is also a time when we are called to give serious reflection to the sacrifices that are necessary for those who would follow in Jesus’ way.
Sunday will begin a five-week sermon series on “The Cost of Following Jesus.” The series will address the key requirements of discipleship that manifest how we are to take the call of Jesus most seriously. Each Sunday will emphasize a component of the cruciform life with the hopes of moving us toward Holy Week with a deeper appreciation of what Jesus did for us at Calvary and a more profound joy for how the power of his resurrection points us toward a promising future.
Here is how the series will unfold:
2/18
Luke 9:23
“Let Jesus Lead”
Theme: SELF-DENIAL
2/25
Luke 9:57-58
“No Place for the Faithful”
Theme: LONELINESS
3/4
Luke 9:59-60
“First Things First”
Theme: DEPENDENCE
3/11, Wayne Splawn preaching
3/18
Luke 14:33
“Kiss It Goodbye”
Theme: SACRIFICE
One of the important books in my faith development has been Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s The Cost of Discipleship. Written as a call for his German brethren to come from their comfortable Christian worldview to a more radical obedience to Christ, Bonhoeffer’s reflections on the perils of “cheap grace” inspire us to new heights of obedience. “Cheap grace,” he wrote, “is preaching forgiveness without requiring repentance, baptism without church discipline, communion without confession…. Cheap grace is grace without discipleship, grace without the cross, grace without Jesus Christ, living and incarnate.”
May this Lenten series refocus our devotion upon the heart of what it means to be Christian. Only then will we be more prepared to put our hearts into the daily demands of discipleship, especially when the going gets tough. And only then will we be able to have our hearts lifted when Easter finally dawns and we hear the Master call our names.
“And anyone who does not carry his cross and follow me cannot be my disciple” (Luke 14:27).