Obedience…What Will It Cost You?
Citizen House Creed — Part 3
This is part 3 of a 5 part series on the Citizen House Creed. VIEW PART 1. VIEW PART 2.
When I hear stories about Christian martyrs in our day, I’m taken back. Internally, I ask myself “Why would they give everything up?” or “How did they have such a great faith?” But as I’ve been reading Luke and Acts recently, a different question came to my mind: Why am I so surprised?
Jesus was abundantly clear about the cost of following him. The majority of the new testament deals with churches that are dealing with intense persecution. And yet, I hear modern stories, that sound like they could be ripped from the pages of scripture, I’m surprised. I feel like they’re an anomaly.
One reason we’re shocked by stories like this is that we’ve been sold an American dream. Even the city that I live in, Arlington, TX, self-identifies as “Dream City”. We’re told that as long as we work hard enough, we have the opportunity for a comfortable, safe, convenient life. Additionally, Christians and the Church have largely been catered to and have had seats of power so for most of American history. It’s been culturally advantageous to be a “Christian”. This is especially true where I live in what’s considered the “Bible Belt.”
Easy, cultural Christianity is not normal.
It not normal for the far majority of people living around the world, and it’s not normal historically. The other truth is, our culture is changing. Christianity is no longer at the center of society. It’s not necessarily advantageous to identify as a Christian anymore.
So as followers of Jesus, we need to honestly evaluate the costs of obeying Jesus’ teaching in a society that marginalizes Christianity. We need to consider the difficult things that Jesus said his followers would experience.
Pick Up Your Cross
In Luke 9:23–24, Jesus tells a group of potential followers that they need to pick up their cross daily and follow him. These people don’t know Jesus is going to die on a cross yet. Their understanding of the cross is that it’s an instrument of torture, humiliation, and punishment for the worst of criminals. No one was walking around with cross necklaces, tattoos, or bumper stickers on the back of their chariots. I can’t imagine what someone from the first century would think about a cross being a fashion statement.
Jesus’ pitch to these people is basically this: “Follow me and die every day. The only way path to a meaningful life is if you’re willing to give up everything to do what I do…which of course includes immense rejection, pain, and suffering…” This is not a very warm-hearted, seeker-friendly message. And this isn’t the only time Jesus talks to people like this.
Later in Luke 9, Jesus encounters three men who are supposedly interested in following him. And he does not make it easy.
Jesus doesn’t lower the bar to gain more followers.
To one potential follower, Jesus says (I paraphrase), “If you follow me, you’re not going to have a comfortable place to sleep. You’ll never really have a home.”
If we’re citizens of heaven, that means we’re foreigners and exiles here. We shouldn’t live with a priority of comfort.
Two other potential followers want to say bye or bury their family members before following Jesus. And Jesus essentially tells them that they have no business following him if he is not the top priority and obligation in their lives, even above their own family.
If this isn’t hard enough already, check out Luke 14:25–33. Jesus says time and time again that following him will be difficult. He doesn’t blindside us. He places all his cards on the table and says, “If you follow me you’re signing up to pay the highest price imaginable. Is it worth it? Count the cost.”
What Are the Costs?
I think we do what Jesus says and candidly consider the cost of becoming and acting like Jesus.
Obeying Jesus will cost you relationally.
Jesus says if you don’t “hate” your family you can’t follow him. Now, we realize that Jesus also says to love your neighbor and Paul writes that those who don’t care for their family are worse than unbelievers. So what does Jesus mean here? Jesus is saying that even your closest relationships in this life should look like hate in comparison to your love for Jesus. Because the truth is, if you do some hard things that Jesus calls you to do, you may be rejected, even by the people closest to you.
Obeying Jesus will cost you economically.
It’s possible that the potential Jesus follower who wanted to go and bury his father first was motivated to secure his inheritance. Jesus tells him that doesn’t take precedence. There is another instance where a religious, young, rich ruler comes to Jesus (Luke 18:18–30). On the surface, it looks like this guy has a lot of potential for the Kingdom. But when Jesus tells him to go sell everything that he has, the guy can’t do it. It’s not that money was inherently bad but the rich guy proved that he valued his status and security more than Jesus. If you asked you to sell everything, would you?
Obeying Jesus will cost you physically.
Jesus doesn’t guarantee that you’ll live for a certain number of years. In fact, it could shorten your life. For Christians throughout history and in many countries today, following Jesus cost their very lives. If Jesus asked you to move to a dangerous neighborhood or dangerous country for the sake of the gospel, would you do it?
Obeying Jesus may extract from you the highest price relationally, economically, or even physically. But here’s the good news:
Jesus doesn’t ask us to pay a price that He wasn’t willing to pay himself.
Jesus gave up all of his power and privilege to become a man. He was humiliated and rejected, even by those close to him. On the cross, with all of humanity’s sin upon him, he was even rejected by His Heavenly Father (Matthew 27:46). In obedience, he gave up his very life.
Jesus paid the highest price, and in doing so, secured our salvation. He rose again three days later and was exalted to the position of the highest authority.
Jesus paid the price so that we could reap the reward.
In his resurrection, he proved to us that whatever cost we pay for obedience will be worth it in the end.
Our Creed
At Citizen House, we want to be people who are sacrificially obedient to King Jesus. We say it this way in our Creed:
Sacrifice: We obey Jesus, even when it’s costly.
We want to follow in the footsteps of the Apostle Paul who knew that obedience to Jesus would be worth any cost (Philippians 3:8–11). We want to join the “great cloud of witnesses” like Abel, Noah, Abraham, Moses, and others who, by faith, considered reproach with Christ greater than any treasure this world has to offer (Hebrews 11). We can obey Jesus, even when it cost us, because we know we’ll receive a new resurrected body. We’ll receive a new home. We’ll be completely accepted and loved by our heavenly father for all eternity. We will be made perfect.
In the end, what are the faith stories that will be written about us?
By faith, some were baptized when their friends and family thought they were crazy.
By faith, some left the comfort and convenience of their home church to start a micro-church with their non-believing friends.
By faith, some took in foster kids or adopted
…some moved to under-resourced neighborhoods to work for revitalization.
…some capped their living expenses to give away the rest.
…some launched a non-profit to serve the poor or marginalized.
…some moved overseas to take the gospel to unreached, unengaged people groups.
By faith, the people of Citizen House obeyed Jesus, even when it was costly.
