I‘ve written about this before, but after reading a great little article from Andy Crouch it’s burning in my heart again: Discipleship to Jesus is the best deal we’re ever going to get as human beings. It is an amazing bargain that any sober-minded shopper would jump at. It should feel to good to be true. Being with Jesus to learn from him how to be like him is the most remarkable opportunity ever offered to the human race.
Crouch’s article is about Jesus’ stories in Luke 14 about a tower builder and an embattled king. He points out that in most English Bibles, this section is labelled “The Cost of Discipleship,” but, he says, “Jesus’ first hearers would have known that label was exactly backwards. For these stories are not about disciples, but fools.”
The tower builder doesn’t have enough money to finish his project. The king doesn’t have enough troops to win the battle. These aren’t models of discipleship, they’re models of non-discipleship. They are pictures of people trying to gain security through their own resources and strength, ambitiously trying to build monuments to their own ingenuity and ability. It’s a picture of people trying to get well-liked enough or rich enough or powerful enough to secure a place for themselves. It’s the tower of Babel all over again.
In other words, Jesus is saying, “Stop your foolish pursuit of security and reputation before you go spiritually bankrupt! Can’t you see you’ll never be able to complete your project? You’re throwing your life away on a pipe dream that you’ll never be able to pay for. Give up the foolishness, and come follow me instead.”
Which is exactly the same point Jesus is making when he says, “Whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it. What good will it be for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their life?” The life you “give up” to follow Jesus is a ill-fated tower-building project that won’t work out anyway. It’s much more costly to keep on trying to finish your tower, because in the end you’ll fail, you’ll forfeit your life for a half-baked tower.
At our missional community gathering this past Sunday someone paraphrased Dallas Willard: “If you think it’s hard being a disciple of Christ, you should try living the other way.” This is exactly what Jesus was saying in these stories: living to make a name for yourself or secure your own future is way too expensive. Stop now before you ruin yourself utterly. Jesus was talking in these stories about the cost of non-discipleship, and it’s breathtakingly high.
In contrast, living as a disciple of Jesus means that you begin to understand what living really is. You “find your life,” as Jesus tells us. Another Willard quote gives us a picture of what we gain as disciples of Jesus:
“What an astonishing vision! The water of heaven flows through our being until we are fully changed people. We wake each morning breathing the air of this new world; we experience a new consciousness, and our character is transformed. We drop our deceitful practices, our insincerity, our defensiveness, our envy, and our slander, and we move outward toward others in genuine love.”
(from Revolution of Character, ht @jontyson)
It isn’t “costly” to obtain this kind of life, you simply give up the old life and receive the new one as a gift. Those who engage in it aren’t spiritual heroes, they’re just responding to the deal of a lifetime. It’s the treasure in the field. Of course you sell everything to buy the field. There’s a treasure in it!
Preach it, brother. What are you dong to me now??!!
Supposed to be doing. Not dong in the previous comment. Wow that was unfortunate.
Ha! I get you, bro.
While I agree that pursuit of riches or notoriety or what-have-you is an empty pursuit that doesn't deliver peace (ie: 'life'), I'd argue that there are more ways to achieve a humble and happy life than being a disciple of Jesus. Truly there are many who do follow that path and find what they're looking for, but I think Jesus' message went beyond being one of his disciples. It doesn't work for me anymore, for example, but I don't begrudge those that find that way of life meaningful. Just wanting to point out that there are more ways to spiritual enlightenment than the judeo christian "Jesus is my personal savior and friend" theology. I believe there are other options besides either 'be a selfish pig building your own kingdom or follow Jesus'. Heretic, for instance. 🙂 It seems to hang together better for me if I think of following the example of Jesus (and other spiritual teachers) then to focus in only on Jesus as THE magical savior who is a personal friend of mine.
Cindy, thanks for your comment.
I think that probably what I mean by "following Jesus" is different from what you mean by "Judeo-Christian 'Jesus is my personal Savior and Friend' theology. But that's a side point.
I know that people find various ways to be helpful, etc. and I am happy to debate the merits and drawbacks of the various "ways" out there. I also firmly believe that if you found a better way to be human than the way of Jesus, Jesus himself would encourage you to take it.
But I am also prepared to say that I do think that Jesus is unique among spiritual teachers, in that I believe he is alive today and empowers us, through the Holy Spirit, to really live interactively with God in his kingdom, as opposed to trying to simply follow his example in our own efforts. When we put our confidence in Jesus (which means trusting and acting on that trust), we come to know a different kind of life than the one we presently have… we truly enter into interactive relationship with God in his kingdom.
This is the difference I have seen in many lives and felt in my own life that convinces me there really is something different about Jesus. I typically just encourage people to try it and see what happens.
Love the title! I couldn't imagine what it would be like to have discipleship drive my ministry before, but now that it's at the center of what I'm doing, it seems inexcusable to do differently. It's that significant.
I was also thinking of the consumer culture that's been talked about widely over the 3DM blogs. I think that is one of the most wide-spread, nearly universal costs of non-discipleship (that I am familiar with, at least). As a former consumer, I can say even more specifically the cost was feelings of guilt and uselessness when I approached the Bible. "Look at what Jesus taught." "Look at how the disciples lived!" "It's impossible for me/us to do this in our church culture."
Great kairos for me, thanks again.
Thanks for the comment Zak! Nailed it on the consumerism issue. It's one of the biggest strongholds in American culture (and thus the church as well), so big in fact that most of the time we are blind to its influence.
Awesome article, Ben! I was just listening to Dallas Willard’s audiobook on this very subject and then googled the subject and found your article. I LOVE this paradigm shift of the trust “cost” being on the NON discipleship side of things. So different than we’re used to thinking about it!
Kim Aldrich Yes Kim! Huge paradigm shift that changes everything.