Most of us find real comfort in
Jesus’ words. Just think about some of
the famous “I am” sayings in John. “I am
the gate for the sheep,” (John 10:7), assures us that those who belong to Jesus
can, “come in and go out and find pasture,” (v. 9). “I am the Good Shepherd,” who, “lays down his
life for the sheep,” (John 10:11). “I am
the Light of the World,” (John 8:12), so we need never walk in darkness. “I am the vine, you are the branches,” (John
15:1), which assures us that life-giving nourishment flows into our spirits
from Him.
But some words of Jesus aren’t so
comforting. He speaks some “hard words”
as well, that challenge our ordinary ways of thinking and acting. My favorite is Luke 17:10; “So you also, when
you have done all that you were told to do, should say, `We are unworthy
servants; we have only done our duty.’” Our natural inclination, once we’ve
done a few of the things we were told to do, is to say, “Look at the wonderful
thing I did.” We do this even though all
we’ve done is obeyed one of Christ’s commands once in a while. We were told to love each other as much as
Jesus loved us (John 15:9-17) and His love led Him to a cross. I recall sharing Luke 17:10 with one of my sisters-in-law.
“Thanks a lot,” she said,“you just ruined my whole day.” She is now an ex-sister-in-law, largely
because the command to do all she was told to do was too hard for her.
Another of my favorite “hard words”
is found in Luke 9:57-62; “As they were walking along the road a man said to
him, `I will follow you wherever you go.’ Jesus replied, `Foxes have holes and
the birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his
head.’ He said to another man,`Follow me.’ But the man replied, `Lord, first
let me go and bury my father.’ Jesus said, `Let the dead bury their own dead,
but you go and preach the kingdom of God.’ Still another said, `I will follow
you, Lord, but first let me go back and say good-by to my family.’ Jesus
replied, `No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for
service in the kingdom of God.’” Is Jesus being unduly hard on these guys? On us?
Let’s look a bit closer.
All He is saying to the first is,
“Count the cost.” As a college student I
worked with Campus Crusade for Christ.
So I memorized the four spiritual laws.
I still can recite them almost verbatim.
The first is, “God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your
life.” The second and third tell us how
God bridged the gap between Himself and sinful humanity, and the fourth talks
about accepting Christ by faith. There’s
no call there to count the cost. The
potential convert is told that all he has to do to start living God’s wonderful
plan is to believe in Jesus and have his sins forgiven.
But suppose the:”wonderful plan” for
the potential convert’s life involves spending years serving as pastor to
small, unresponsive, ungrateful churches?
I can tell you from experience that doing that isn’t so wonderful. Or suppose it involves the kind of service
rendered to the poor by people such as Mother Teresa and her nuns. It’s a long way from Calcutta to Cedar
Point. Or suppose, like the man who
actually wrote the book The Cost of
Discipleship, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, that plan involves martyrdom. Can we fault Jesus for telling this man the
truth? Or is our problem that we want
all the “wonderful” ourselves and hope somebody else has to go to Africa and do
the costly stuff? I can’t help but
wonder whether, if we were honest with people about the will of God, we might
see fewer converts, but one who did accept the offer might well hang in there a
lot better when times get tough.
Then there’s the second guy. His father was neither dead nor dying. “Bury my father,” is a euphemism. Dr. Ken Bailey, who lived 60 years in the
Middle East, says he has heard many young people in that part of the world
discussing with friends their decision to emigrate to the West. Inevitably he will be asked, “Do you intend
to bury your father first?” The question
means, “Are you going to stay until your father dies or leave now?” The father of the man Jesus called might live
on for years yet. But Jesus’ time with
us was limited and running out, so if this man wanted to follow him, he needed
to start that minute. So to, “Consider
the cost,” Jesus adds, “Don’t put it off.”
Urgency also lies behind what Jesus
says to the third man. His advice to him
is, “Don’t look back.” Saying good-by to
one’s family could be a long and very formal thing in that culture and Jesus’
time, as we said, was short, measured in weeks rather than years. If the person wants to learn from Jesus, he
had better come now. But the command not
to look back has broader implications.
For those of us who were raised in Christian homes and have been
believers since childhood it is a reminder not to look back with regret on all
the “fun” things our unbelieving or converted friends do or did in the
world. Don’t ever regret avoiding the
drunken parties or “sleeping around.”
Thank God you were saved from all that.
And for those who have come to Christ after doing some of those things,
it is a reminder that, having counted the cost and come when God called, it is
a reminder not to look back on their former life with longing.
As the term wraps up and you prepare
for a summer of work and service, or a summer of vacation and fun, remember the
hard words of Jesus. If your summer is
to be one of work, whether in a job somewhere in commerce or in Christian
ministry, whether in this country or another, I pray you will all learn
something about the cost of following Jesus–though I doubt any of you will face
the extreme danger some Christians endure.
And if yours is to be a summer of fun and relaxation, remember that
you’re a disciple wherever you go and you must not let the glitter and glitz of
this world cause you to look back with regret because you are no longer really
a part of all that. Have a blessed
summer. I’ll be writing a book about
Job. Now there’s a man who knew about
the cost of believing in God. Maybe I’ll
share a bit of it with you as I go.
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