Jesus ended His description of the cost of discipleship with a breathtaking statement: "Any one of you who does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple" (Luke 14:33). Luke 14:25-33 Revised Standard Version (RSV) The Cost of Discipleship. To speak of the cost of discipleship in our society may be not the most needful thing from the viewpoint of the listener right now; it may become more needful in the days ahead. And so he could welcome even the bible-critical work of a man like Bultmann, even though he made it clear that he disagreed with Bultmann’s conclusions. Bonhoeffer cherished his work at Finkenwalde. It also tells us that those who want to find God must themselves take up the cross, as the Sermon on the Mount demands. Jesus tells this parable of the cost of discipleship, also called the counting the cost parable, in order to communicate several important concepts regarding being his disciple and following him. Going forward feels like the right thing to do. The Cost of Discipleship by Dietrich Bonhoeffer was published in 1937. Thus, Jesus first lays out two of the costs of discipleship (14:26-27); then, He gives two parables (14:28-32) that make the same overall point, namely, that a person must give careful consideration to the cost before he rashly jumps into it. At Finkenwalde he found the type of work to which he could give himself whole-heartedly. 7:23). I believe that Jesus is getting at the fact that there are two possible lords that we can serve and the two are exclusive: God or Mammon. Especially distressing to him were the church’s hesitation in openly denouncing the lies and abuses of Hitler’s regime, its failure to give public support to those who were oppressed and persecuted – Jews and others – and the fact that whenever it did speak up, it was always on its own behalf. In other words, there are some who are truly saved, but who never commit themselves to being disciples. appears in this latest edition of The Cost of Disciple ship. While in prison Bonhoeffer would teach the gospel from his book, The Cost of Discipleship. But just before the door hit the frame, his voice came through, “I’ll pay for the first half year.” It was many years later that Fran’s dad became a Christian, but Fran thinks that this moment was the basis of his salvation, when Fran in effect declared, “I must follow the Lord.” (Told by Edith Schaeffer, in The Tapestry [Word], pp. At that time, however, he had still explained it in the conventional manner, which took the sting out of it. He knows that the battle will be intense and He doesn’t want to recruit anyone under false pretenses. A. As I hope to show, even in the controversial writings we find insights of enduring value. Kamphuis sees here also the consequences of a view (which he says Bonhoeffer shared to some extent) according to which the origin of revelation is not to be sought in God, but ultimately in man, so that whatever can be said about Christ’s being more than man must nevertheless be explained with reference to his humanity. The church was unfortunately shut down by the Nazi government. You cannot bring anything nor do anything to deserve an invitation. Cheap grace, Bonhoeffer writes, established itself in the medieval church. Our text this week makes what seems like an abrupt shift and shows us the cost of following Christ. Bonhoeffer devotes two separate chapters to the call to discipleship and, in connection therewith, to the relationship between faith and obedience. It will also show the cost at which discipleship, in all nations, is to be won. Nothing you own is your own. Bonhoeffer's finest writings came during the despicable rise and fall of the Nazi regime bringing to light a new dimension in the cost of following Christ. April 9, 2021 “Those who find their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will find it.” Matthew 10:39. Bonhoeffer’s experiences with the Confessing Church played a role here. Christians had to be reminded that the church of Christ was still a church under the cross and that this would continue until Christ’s return. Is there any relationship that comes ahead of Christ in your life? Ideas and doctrinal systems require only intellectual assent, rather than personal commitment. His Old Testament studies not only influenced Bonhoeffer’s view of Christian this-worldliness, they also played a part in his demand for a “religionless Christianity.” His use of this term has caused questions among the orthodox and was explained by liberal theologians as referring to a Christianity without Christ and without the supernatural. Our rule is not to go a step out of the way of duty, either to meet a cross or to miss one. The first is about Jesus’ call to his disciples and the implications of that call; the second deals with the Sermon on the Mount; the third with the sending of Jesus’ disciples to preach the gospel in Israel; and the fourth with church and discipleship as described in Paul’s letters. He isn’t just Lord of a tenth; He is Lord of all. Unless it does so, Bonhoeffer tells us, it will fail in its God-given mission with respect to a lost world. The matter to be determined is whether the passages which specify the cost of discipleship speak of the requirements for salvation or of a post-salvation commitment to our Lord. If it’s tails this time, I’ll go.” Tails. Mk. The new life God imparts inevitably results in a new way of life in accord with its nature, namely growth in holiness. The disciple has thought this through in advance and is committed to follow Christ. The evidence of believing this is seen in what the power of the cross does in you and through you through the word of God, the result is being slain by the word and enjoying a new blissful life in Christ that goes far beyond body or mental sufferings. 34-35.). It is free and yet very costly. “It is the hard-working farmer who ought to have the first share of the crops” (2 … That’s what Jesus means when He says that we must give up all our possessions in order to be His disciple. In stating that God is not to be sought as a crutch in times of suffering, Bonhoeffer did not imply a disparagement of Christian prayer, nor did he deny that God is a present help in times of need. Some Christian he is!” Or, we will face the damaging effects of being defeated by the enemy because we did not consider the intensity of the battle we were facing. E-mail: Fiirst Name: Last Name: Subscribe Unsubscribe. But if I accept his free offer, I have just committed myself to months of difficult training and arduous effort. When Jesus says that we must hate even our own lives, again He means in comparison with our love for Him. You must have JavaScript enabled to use this form. To do so would be legalistic. We do not love the family member, because if we bow to the pressure, we are saying that Christ is not worthy of being followed above all others, and we keep the family member from seriously considering the claims of Christ. “Justification is the new creation of the new person, and sanctification is the preservation and protection of that person until the day of Jesus Christ.”, The final aspect of Bonhoeffer’s book to have our attention is the relationship between discipleship and the cross. Shortly later, on August 21, he added: “One thing is certain: we must always live close to the presence of God, for that is newness of life; and then nothing is impossible for all things are possible with God” (130). (If you're a human, don't change the following field), Dietrich Bonhoeffer – The Cost of Discipleship. Do you give generously and faithfully to His work? This means that we are to read the Bible not as a human document but indeed receive it as God’s Word to us. When the moment finally came where he had to make the decision to go with what he thought God wanted or to submit to his father’s wishes, Fran asked in a strained voice, “Pop, give me a few minutes to go down in the cellar and pray.” In fear and uncertainty, he went down there and wept hot tears of sorrow for his father. 3:12), if a person claims to be a believer, but he isn’t seeking to grow in obedience to Christ, he is fooling himself. The third phase began around 1940 and lasted until his death in April 1945. Cross-bearing begins with severing the ties that bind a person to this world. Biblical this-worldliness must therefore be seen, Bonhoeffer believes, as a condition of the Christian faith. Billy Graham was a world-renown evangelist who changed the lives of millions of people throughout the whole world. It and I don ’ t forget that they ’ re all mine, just as transformational the Bonhoeffer the. Normally, when Bonhoeffer studied in New York: Macmillan, 1959 ), Bonhoeffer! 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