Introducing a Blog Series: The Rising Costs of Following Jesus

In this post, I want to introduce some initial thoughts on what it means to be a disciple of Jesus Christ and to explore a truly biblical principle of the costliness of following Jesus and the recent trend of ever rising costs in identifying with and faithfully following this One whom the Bible claims to be the Son of God who came into the world to save sinners.

Since our nation's birth in 1776, disciples of Jesus Christ have, for the most part, enjoyed relative acceptance and harmony with the culture at large.  The spiritual heritage of the first colonists, as well as that of many of the Founding Fathers, is well documented.  United States history is replete with accounts of citizens' encounters with God, in both private and public domains.  Even as recently as the late 20th century (1980's-1990's), Christians were generally viewed as people with good morals, family-focused, and active within the life of their respective communities. Politicians who did not identify themselves with the Christian faith were rare, given the fact that the majority of the electorate identified itself as Christian.  Business deals were often made only after a discussion of one's religious beliefs and practices.  Schools opened with prayer; Bibles were routinely carried to both work and school; meals were introduced with blessings and prayers of thanksgiving.  From the northernmost corner of Maine to the southernmost corner of California, and everywhere in between, people found comfort and counsel, hope and healing, peace and purpose from the Bible and God's called out and gathered people, the church.

Fast forward to 2013, and it would be an understatement to say "Times have changed."

To begin this discussion, we can go to no better source than Holy Scripture, whose favorite word for God's people (in the New Testament) is not the expected "Christians" (used only three times), "believers" (15 times), "saints," (63 times) or "church," (110 times), but God's word of choice is "disciples," (over 250 times).  The very word carries within itself a richness of meaning (a learner in relationship with a teacher, an apprentice in relationship with a mentor, and a follower in relationship to a master).  Given that meaning and the encounters those first disciples had with Jesus, as well as the instructions He gave them and had recorded for us, it should come as no surprise that being a disciple of Jesus Christ is pricey.

The next post will identify some of these costs, as recorded in God's Word.