{"id":1090,"date":"2014-08-15T17:51:58","date_gmt":"2014-08-15T17:51:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/journeyonleadership.brentwoodbaptistonline.com\/?p=1090"},"modified":"2014-08-15T17:51:58","modified_gmt":"2014-08-15T17:51:58","slug":"cost-discipleship","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/leadership.brentwoodbaptist.com\/adult-discipleship\/cost-discipleship\/","title":{"rendered":"Cost of Discipleship"},"content":{"rendered":"
By Eric Warren<\/address>\n

No one likes to be different.\u00a0 As the old proverb goes, \u201cThe nail that sticks out gets hammered.\u201d\u00a0 If you\u2019re as unfortunate as I am, you have quite the arsenal of stories that entail truly how awkward you were through the years of middle school and high school.\u00a0 Looking back now, I can definitely laugh but, at the time, all I wanted was to be like my friends and not have much about me stick out that they could point and laugh at.\u00a0 These days, I have the benefit of retrospect and, looking back, I should have cherished those little quirks and everything else that made me unique.\u00a0 What we offer here at Brentwood Baptist is a life that is counter to \u201cfitting in.\u201d\u00a0 Christianity has developed its own culture, especially here in the South, that includes a high regard for image and routine that does not exactly mirror authentic and genuine relationships.\u00a0 We hope to provide something that flies in the face of that superficiality; however, there is a certain cost.
\nSomething that Christ was very persistent in was His teaching that those who follow Him will suffer.\u00a0 In so many words, \u201cIf you don’t suffer, you’re doing it wrong.\u201d\u00a0 In Matthew 10, Jesus talks about His followers being \u201csheep amidst the wolves,\u201d which doesn’t need much explanation.\u00a0 Those who dare to claim the name of Jesus have a huge target painted on their back.\u00a0 Being a true follower of Jesus is different; you stick out and, as said earlier, the nail that sticks out gets hammered.\u00a0 Christ called his first disciples away from their boats, away from their jobs.\u00a0 In today\u2019s day and age, a lot of people find their worth and their definition in their job; so, to be called away like this would be giving up a huge part of what defines you in this worldly life.\u00a0 You\u2019d better believe that life with Jesus is different.\u00a0 A couple chapters earlier, we are given the account of one who passionately wishes to follow Jesus and His ministry.\u00a0 His only request to Jesus was that he be allowed to go home and bury his father, to which Christ said, \u201cNo, follow me completely or not at all.\u201d\u00a0 You\u2019d better believe that life with Christ is different, it\u2019s counter to the ways of the world and there is a cost in following Him.
\nThis is a somewhat bleak message that I am sharing with you; I understand that.\u00a0\u00a0 Last week, I shared with you an importance of being fed by Scripture and not just the portions that make us feel warm and fuzzy, but also the parts that make us feel convicted, that put a pit in our stomachs.\u00a0 Those portions are just as important to our nourishment because they only reveal the gravity and the power of God\u2019s saving Grace.\u00a0 Christ prepares us for such adversity in His teachings in John\u2019s gospel account when He says, \u201cIf you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.\u201dHe also provides us encouragement by stating immediately before, \u201cHowever the World may hate us as followers of Christ, know that the World hated Him first.\u201d
\nAgain, I know this is not necessarily the most uplifting message to take in, but consider this.\u00a0 We are on the brink of Group Connect on August 23, where we hope to attract mass amounts of people seeking to plug into LIFE Groups.\u00a0 We have been inviting you to come alongside us in prayer for these Group Seekers, for everyone tied to the event, and for those in charge of facilitating it.\u00a0 That request has not changed, but something we ask of you also is to pray for transformed hearts through these LIFE Groups.\u00a0 Paul states in the twelfth chapter of Romans:<\/p>\n

Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/em>– Romans 12:2<\/em><\/p>\n

\u00a0We ask you to pray not just for people to find nice social groups, not just friends, but life change and enduring, Christ-centered relationships.\u00a0 There is a cost to following Jesus; it is counter to the ways of the World.\u00a0 It\u2019s not just a tweak here and there to make you a nicer person but a foundational change at the most basic level.\u00a0 We want you to pray for hearts that either are genuinely captivated or will be genuinely captivated by Christ so that they can read news like how the world will hate them, and they will still see the immense joy behind such a statement, which is found in the truth that yes, the world will hate us, but the perfect and holy God is crazy about us.\u00a0 That is true and genuine relationship that, in the midst of hard news, in the midst of difficulty and adversity, we still cling as hard as we can to our Heavenly Father.
\nThings to Pray For:<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n