The Cost of Discipleship

Wednesday, 12th December 2007

Critics of the grace gospel say that there should not be an over-emphasis on God's grace. They say that we should maintain a balance. After all, the Scriptures do mention that there is a cost to being a disciple of Jesus Christ.

Well guess what? I agree! There IS a cost to discipleship. Read on...

Sometime in March 2006, I was approached by my cluster leaders about starting a new cell group. At that time, I was not prepared to do so, because I was already approached by the Finance Chairman in January 2006 to take over the role as Honorary Treasurer with effect from August 2006. However, with further coaxing and encouragement, I finally agreed to their request and went for the Cell Leader Training in October 2006.

I was somewhat the "blue-eyed boy" of 3L, having great favour with my cluster leaders, my fellow cell members in 3L2 as well as many other members of the cluster. One of my cell members labelled me 3L's PR and Marketing guru because I helped them to set up the 3L Cluster Yahoo Group, printed cluster tshirts and calendars.

At this same time last year, I was a cell leader intern in 3L2 and was about to embark as the cell leader of 3L7. I remember having great plans for 3L7. Having been so blessed by grace messages, I had wanted to share this with my cell members. Already when I was in 3L2, I had lots to share, but being only a cell member, there were limits to what could be done (and especially so when Pastor B was also in the same cell... speaking of which, he did mention earlier this year that he suspected I had begun to embrace grace teachings during the course of conversations with him and in the cell. I suppose one cannot be an undercover agent or closet grace embracer for too long, but that is another story for another day).

Anyway, as I was saying earlier, when 3L7 was first birthed in Jan 07, I had great plans for it. I found the Humorous Bible Illustrations DVD to contain many nuggets of God's truth in them. This DVD consists of 30 extracts of sermons of about 3-10 minutes each, and I thought it would be good if I could show one episode per cell meeting...

Alas, my senior pastor got wind of this, and so he mentioned during the PIC-CL meeting in Jan 07 that all external materials had to be cleared with the Disciple & Nurture department (which he oversees) Needless to say, that DVD was completely banned, and I mean completely. At a meeting in his room on 24 January 2007, he told me categorically that he did not agree with any of the materials on that disc. I had no choice but to comply, so my cell members were deprived of watching the disc in the setting of a cell.

My relationships with Pastor B as well as my cluster leaders had also started to become strained. On 4 February 2007 when I went up to receive Holy Communion, I sobbed (not wept) uncontrollably. Pastor KL prayed for me, thinking that I was feeling remorseful about embracing grace teachings, but nothing could be further from the truth! I sobbed because I sensed a loss in those relationships that had taken so much time and effort to build up in 2006, and yet were now strained because of the difference in opinion regarding the grace message. It was then when I started to wonder whether this was the cost of discipleship.

And as the saying goes, the rest is history, and I mean HISTORY :-)

My role as a cell leader became history in Aug 07.
My role as Honorary Treasurer became history in Aug 07.
My cell group became history in Dec 07.
My involvement in 3L will become history at the end of this year.

Sad to say, but the truth of the matter is that the grace gospel divides -- and the devil is working overtime here because he does not want the believer to hear it and be completely liberated.

Sure, the Laws of Moses were given by God, but we are now under the New Covenant that surpasses the Old one. The devil is now using those very same laws to condemn, confuse, entrap and imprison the believer. No wonder Paul says in 1 Cor 15:56 that the "strength of sin is the law (KJV)". And the sad fact is that there are preachers today who are unwittingly allowing themselves to be used by the devil as his tools when they attempt to put their flock back under the law.

Instead of trusting and allowing the Holy Spirit in each of them to work, they try to "help" God by giving their flock a set of rules and regulations to follow. Do they think they are smarter and mightier than the Holy Spirit? Reminds me of how Abram and Sarai also tried to "help" God via the bondservant Hagar.

Is there a cost to discipleship? There sure is! But I take heart, because Jesus says in Matt 5:10-12
10Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
11"Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me.
12Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.