Key Quote:
“If any of you wants to be my follower, you must give up your own way, take up your cross, and follow me.
(Matthew 16:24)
Notes
Jesus clearly taught that there was a cost to following him. Being his disciple was never going to be an easy ride. Sara Cosgrove spoke about this cost and sacrifice and you can listen to it, or read the summary, here.
Sara doesn’t allow us to leave this important truth to stay in vague or high-minded terms, but brings it down to very practical challenges for our real lives. She asks us questions such as: what example of this are we setting to those we influence? Are we honest, with those we are inviting to follow Jesus, that there is a cost involved? And what life choices are we making, where do we give our time and resources etc.? She ends by saying that we show the value of something by the price we are willing to pay for it.
Questions
If it helps, here are some questions to guide your discussion (but don’t be limited by them):
- Do you feel that in recent times some of us Christians have lost sight of the cost and sacrifice involved in following Jesus?
- How can we include honesty about the cost of following Jesus when we are making disciples?
- What does the cost of following look like for you in practical terms?
For Next Time:
In the next message and Hub Notes, we will be looking at the significance of the women who followed Jesus.
There is a PDF version of these notes available here.