Radical Discipleship: No Price is Too High

The word “radical” may sound strange to us in a church world, maybe even scary. It implies something out of the norm, something that is not ordinary or usual. But maybe when Jesus called His disciples, He thought radical to be a norm. Maybe He did not expect anything less. The way we think about radical discipleship depends on the context in which we intend to apply it. If we compare it with the standards of secular culture and nominal church world, then of course it is going to look totally different and out of place. But if we compare it with biblical standard and expectations laid upon disciples by Jesus Himself, or with the lives of the early believers, or with the way many Christians live outside of the western world, then suddenly what we call radical today will look more and more normal.

Through the years there have been many people who today can be seen as radical followers of Christ. And though they lived in different times and cultures there are some things they have in common.  Apostle Paul is a great example of a radical disciple.  Writing his letter to the church in Colossae from the Roman prison, Paul talks about his service to Christ. Colossians 1:24-29 seem to contain some key persuasion or beliefs that radical disciples possess. One of those is a belief that no price is too high.

“I now rejoice in my suffering for you” – I have a problem with this phrase. First, “rejoice in suffering” sounds scary to me and does not make any sense in this culture. Suffering involves pain, hardship, persecution, pressure, and many other things that I am trying my best to avoid experiencing it, hearing it, or reading about it. It makes me uncomfortable. Joy and hardships do not comingle, unless your joy does not depend on circumstances, but rather comes from the fact that you have been chosen by God to carry out his mission, accomplishing something that will matter in eternity, and for that there is no price too high to pay. When you grab the hold of God’s kingdom, you realize what Jesus was saying: “The kingdom is like the treasure in the field which when a man finds, goes and sells everything he has and buys the field. (Matt.13:44). This joy is not possible unless we realize that value of what we lose in our life is much lesser than the value of what we gain with Christ.

Many of us avoid whole hearted commitment to Jesus because deep in our hearts we are afraid of what it can involve. Most of us try to get rid of suffering when it comes our way. Paul, on the other hand, found joy in what he suffered. In 2 Corinthians 7:4 he declares, “…In all our troubles my joy knows no bounds.” And he suffered far more than most of us ever will. In 2 Corinthians 11:24-29 he writes: “Five times I received from the Jews the forty lashes minus one. Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was stoned, three times I was shipwrecked, I spent a night and a day in the open sea, I have been constantly on the move. I have been in danger from rivers, in danger from bandits, in danger from my own countrymen, in danger from Gentiles; in danger in the city, in danger in the country, in danger at sea; and in danger from false brothers. I have labored and toiled and have often gone without sleep; I have known hunger and thirst and have often gone without food; I have been cold and naked. Besides everything else, I face daily the pressure of my concern for all the churches. Who is weak, and I do not feel weak? Who is led into sin, and I do not inwardly burn?” That does not sound like a life many of us would like to sign up for when we accept Christ.

It is sobering to read statistics on Christians living in countries that are hostile to the message of the Bible. According to some estimates, more than 200 million Christians in over 60 nations face persecution each day. Yet they keep their joy and their commitment. I am not saying all of this to put a feeling of guilt on us; but rather just to remind us about shocking reality of what it costs to follow Jesus for people in other places.

The second phrase that troubles me in this passage is that “my suffering for you.” I do not want it for myself, much less for someone else. When we invite people to give their lives to Christ, what do we mean? When we say that we strive to be like Jesus, what do we mean? When Christ gave His life, He gave it “as a ransom for many.” (Mark 10:45). Now Paul is giving his life for the church. Giving your life to God does not always mean being a martyr, but it always means serving others. As John Piper once said: “Christ suffered to accomplish salvation. We suffer to spread salvation.”

Reading about the life of Paul, of early believers, or even of many people today who risk their life for the sake of the gospel causes me to conclude that either these people are crazy, or they grabbed a hold of something that worth living for and if necessary worth dying for; they found something they wanted to buy and no price was too high to pay. More on radical discipleship next time.