The Cost of Discipleship

 The Cost of Discipleship
Luke 1-5
Luke 5:11, “When they had brought their boats to land, they left everything and followed Him.”
                  We read the words and actions of people in the Bible and often accept them without really stopping to reflect on the significance of their actions. This is true of the disciples’ response when Jesus called them to follow him. Until their encounter with Jesus, they knew little about him. They had heard stories and news that there was a young itinerant preacher performing miracles and preaching to the people. In this, they were no different from the rest of the people of that day. The miracles and teaching of Jesus were undoubtedly the talk of the villages surrounding the Sea of Galilee. Like all rural communities, news of something unusual traveled fast. So when Jesus first appeared to Peter and asked him to take him a little ways into the water so the crowds could hear him better, it is not surprising that Peter did so. Yet what happened after this changed Peter’s life. After Jesus finished teaching, he instructed Peter to take the boat out and do some fishing. Peter was reluctant, for obviously Jesus was not a fisherman and did not know these waters like Peter did. Peter knew the lack of the catch of the day was an indication that the fish were elsewhere and that it would be some time before they came back into the waters near Peter’s home port. However, he complied, and the catch exceeded anything he had ever experienced. So great was the catch that his boat and the boat of his partners, James and John, were so weighted down that they were at risk of sinking.  
                  After they got the catch into the boat, Jesus made a statement that changed their lives. Jesus told them that instead of fish, they would become fishermen of men. It is one thing to follow Jesus when he makes no demands on our lives, when he gives us what we desire and pours out his blessings upon us. But it is quite another to follow Jesus when he demands that we change our whole course of life. We want to follow a Jesus who is safe, who blesses us and gives us comfort and security in life. We want to follow a Jesus who allows us to continue to follow our own agenda and goals. What we do not want is a Jesus who disrupts our lives, changes our focus, and demands radical obedience and surrender to his will. To become his disciples, Peter, John, and James left everything. They left the financial security of their careers; they left their family and friends; they gave up everything to follow an upstart itinerant preacher. When they chose to follow Jesus, they had no idea of the cost it would bring to their lives, for not only would it require them to give up their careers, but eventually it would lead to unspeakable deaths because of Jesus. Do we only follow Jesus when he is safe and he blesses us with what we want, or do we follow Jesus regardless of the cost? To become a disciple of Jesus, we must give him control of everything: our present, our dreams, our goals, our future, and even our lives. Are we this kind of disciple? Do we follow Jesus when it is convenient, or do we follow Jesus even when it becomes costly?