Yorba Linda Vineyard

What’s This Going to Cost Me?

 Christy Wimber

Why is it that we want or expect things in life to be free? We either want to pay less or at least have some sort of discount. And really when it comes to material objects of course we’d like a discount! But if our thinking of always expecting some discount bleeds into the mentality of our relationships it affects the quality. The cost is always high in healthy and fruitful relationships. The same has to do in our relationship of following Jesus.

If we look at the earthly ministry of Jesus, we never find where he chose the easy path. We don’t find where He only reached out to reach the easy ones; He also went after those that rejected Him in harsh ways. And he never backed down to the hard places? And as a result, He changed the culture.

He turned towns upside down. He challenged the religions leaders on every level that frustrated them to the point of wanting Him dead. Yet there were also those who fell in love with Him and therefore followed after Him wherever He traveled. Following Jesus isn’t about looking for an easy way out.  And if we look at the model of Jesus is where we also find where sacrifice was a large part of what Jesus endured. He lived sacrificially as well as dying sacrificially. Sacrifice is all around the life of Jesus and His earthly ministry.

Any area where were looking for an easy way out, where sacrifice isn’t involved is an area we’ll have to pass by again. There are no shortcuts to following the life of Jesus. Choosing to follow after Christ means following after Christ. Not just following Christ when it’s easy and its what we think we want when we want it. This followership has never produced anything long lasting. It’s the sacrifice where we identify with Jesus in a way that’s necessary to build into those things into our lives that are necessary to what we need. And many of these times appear when it doesn’t feel like it or we don’t feel like it. Sacrifice never comes at a convenient time. But every time we choose to follow we will also have to make the choice to sacrifice along the way.

But if the Church is ever going to change culture we have to be willing to sacrifice as Jesus did. Believers should never have the mindset where we look for the easy way out. Jesus never did and if we want to encounter change we cannot be afraid of it. You and I cannot change what were afraid of.

We have to be willing to go places and do things that are way out of our comfort zone. But this is one of the reasons why we have the Holy Spirit; He is our Comforter. Too much of the Church has created comfort zones so people so people don’t feel like sacrifice is needed. Where the cost isn’t really presented to those who may want to follow after Jesus in a way where we want to make sure you’re as comfortable as possible and that we don’t offend you with what we say and how we act, so you’ll stay around. But never do we find where Jesus didn’t offend some.  Jesus lived with offense, and so did the ones that chose to follow Him.

But if the Church lives with a mentality ‘if we can just get people into Church and get them to buy in, then we’ve won’ is when we often create performances and structures where we tend to teach people how to live comfortably, rather than sacrificially. This is never what Jesus did.  In fact he made it clear where the people missed Him because their focus was often on the structure when the structures job was to only facilitate what He wanted to do. And getting caught up in their ideas is what caused many of these people to miss Him.

The Kingdom work is messy. And our call is not to make Christians, but rather to make disciples. Nothings easy in making disciples, because were teaching people how to die. So instead of creating performances or structures to make people comfortable our instead our efforts should be in the place where we have the courage to reveal to people the real Jesus. This means not in what we want to see, but rather, what does He want to do? Think about when you encountered Jesus for the first time? Think about how you felt, what happened to your life after you said yes? How did your life change? What was it that got you? Most of the things we encountered in Christ that got us are the same encounters that will get others. Its only when we encounter the real Jesus that sacrifice is no longer an issue. When you and I encounter something that matters most then we’ll do whatever for what we’ve been able to see.

But if we spend more time on creating environments for God to move in us and on the people around us, perhaps God can do more than we can anyways? Therefore, placing the concern more upon ‘we don’t want to miss what Jesus may want to do’ rather than the concern of what He may do or the people’s response to what He may want to do. Truth is no matter what its still only Gods Spirit that can draw people to himself. So our greatest achievements don’t lie on our performance but rather on our submission to what he desires to do. And do we trust Jesus enough that He can move on the people and draw them to himself in ways maybe we are unable to? We cannot be afraid of what can happen, but rather our fear should lie more within the fact that no matter how great we think we are, without Gods presence anyways, encounters of sacrifice will be rare.

We have never been promised an easy life, but if we say yes, we then have been promised Jesus. The cost comes many times and it’s the cost of trusting the Lord not only with our lives, but also with the lives of those all around us. The cost is high, but so are the rewards. You can’t have victories in life without the battles. It’s in the battles of sacrificing where we find more of Jesus. We should not be afraid for ourselves when we encounter hardship, but rather the assurance that we identify with Jesus not only in abundance and peace and mercy, but it’s also in the suffering.  As the Church one of our greatest tools is revealing Jesus to people. Once people encounter Jesus, the price tag won’t matter much.

So it shouldn’t be any surprise to us, or the people we serve when we face another cost. Remembering at the same time the cost is what produces the prize. With everything that lasts and seems to be worth it all are those things we’ve paid a price for. It’s a privilege for what we have, but also what we can give. 

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