Expensive

Luke 14:25-33

Last week my attention was caught by an internet article about areas where pastors are often unprepared for ministry.  This particular article was better than many of its kind, and it listed things like relational intelligence, dealing with critics and expectations, leadership skills, balancing family commitments, and handling a consumer mentality in the culture and church.

It’s true that all of these are areas that can be really challenging, and that a good leader and pastor truly needs to learn them. 

But this list pushed my buttons.

There is a fairly common complaint among pastors, especially in the first few years “They didn’t teach me this in seminary!!”
Does that ever happen in your field?

It’s true.  In seminary, they don’t teach;

- dealing with an overflowing toilet, bleeding a boiler, or managing insurance claims

- negotiating space use with the bridge club

- how to be a good boss

- moving furniture or choosing the color of the tablecloths without offending anybody

- talking the youth group into including the pastor as a roller coaster buddy when they decide to go to Six Flags.

- understanding bookkeeping

Some of it is rewarding, but all of it can be challenging.  And they don’t teach it in seminary.

But since I know they also don’t teach in school a lot of what you need to know to be a good lawyer, doctor, engineer, teacher, manager, parent, friend or spouse, this pushes my buttons. And I get self-righteous and snarky about how tempting it is to blame hard work or necessary challenges on someone else.

I was commenting on that to a couple of priest friends the other day, and then we pulled out our work on this Sunday’s scripture readings, and got face to face with Jesus saying:
“To follow me, you’ve got to hate your family, even life itself, you’ve got to carry your cross, and give up all your possessions. You’ve got to count the cost, be serious about the hard work, or you need to quit before you start.”

Oh.

You know what? They don’t teach this in seminary!

They don’t teach you how to preach “sacrifice everything for Jesus; count the cost in hard work” at the same time that you’re trying to point out that helping on the altar guild or in children’s and youth ministry is fun and rewarding.

And they definitely don’t teach in seminary how to give up your possessions, carry a cross, and ditch your family.

This teaching really is incredibly hard for any Christian, and many of us actually find out just how hard it is long after we’ve signed up, or committed.

How many of you read this list of Jesus’ before you were baptized, and seriously counted this cost?

No? Perhaps you did that calculation before confirmation? Or before you brought your children for baptism?

Yeah, me neither.

So it wouldn’t be unreasonable if you listen to Jesus describe the incredible challenges of being his disciple and think, “hey, they never taught me how to do that in Sunday School!” (or even from the pulpit!)

Because we can’t teach that.

We can only live it.

Or not.

So first, the good news.

You don’t actually need to give up all your possessions or ditch your family in order to be welcome at Calvary.  And if you’ve signed up to be a Sunday School teacher – or vestry member, worship leader, or anything else – you don’t have to teach everyone else to manage that sacrifice.

Church is different from discipleship, but in the church, we do try to practice discipleship together. And there are habits that can help make the life of discipleship a little simpler: leaning in to your prayers, embracing change, loving others.

And you don’t actually have to pick a fight and break up with your family to follow Jesus, though you do have to be willing to put God’s will and Jesus’ work ahead of the deepest loves in your life.

I hope that’s good news to all of you. Because then there’s the other news:

Following Jesus is the most expensive thing you will ever do.

There will be immensely difficult choices and actions.  For most of us, it won’t involve literal death on a cross, but it will often mean taking a risk that big and scary.

People will criticize you, or mock you. Because you’ll be standing up for people that no one else wants to stand up for, and you’ll publicly claim beliefs that other people find silly or inconvenient.

You’ll struggle uphill every day against the consumer mentality of our culture – and sometimes within yourself.  Because you’ll have to say “no” to the idea that happiness comes easily, or with new possessions, food, a certain body weight, or sports loyalties.

You’ll be deeply torn in decisions about your family.  Because loving God and following Jesus sometimes means getting back into painful relationships – and sometimes means letting go when you want to hold on.

Following Jesus means so many of those things they don’t teach you in seminary (or med school, college, technical school, Lamaze classes or Sunday School).

It means being able to lead people who don’t know they want to be led.  Building and maintaining real, dependable relationships with people you wouldn’t have chosen to hang out with.  Staying grounded in the face of criticism, and managing demanding expectations.  Knowing you can’t do it by yourself, and doing it anyway.

You’ve got to do all of that when you’re following Jesus, and there’s no class that will prepare you. There’s only other disciples, and the grace of God.

Have you all left, yet?

If you’re still hanging in there, will you believe me when I tell you that all that impossibly hard stuff is actually good news, too?

Not because it’s ever easy.

But because all those things we risk, all those things we have to give up when we’re seriously, deeply following Jesus - possessions, choices, life plans, family comforts – all those are things we risk every day, anyway.

Fires and floods, economic variables, illness, accident, even stupid misunderstandings, can yank those things away.

It’s the relationship with God which Jesus models for us that will endure through and beyond and in spite of the loss of everything else that we hold dear.

And that’s discipleship.

Giving all your heart to that Jesus-like relationship with God that is stronger and longer and more real than anything else you love.  Giving all your soul to the gift that can’t be broken by any loss or risk or disaster.

Oh yes, it’s hard.

And there isn’t a class on this earth that can prepare us for it.

The only way to calculate the cost is to measure the worth of your own heart and soul.  And that is the only thing that makes it worth it.

Because your heart and your soul are priceless in God’s sight.

Jesus tells us that God is not cheap.

But neither are you.

And God will never ask for a refund.