Page 130 - Discipleship Ministries Student E-Book

Study Section 17: The Cost of Discipleship

“When Christ calls a man, he bids him come and die.”
― Dietrich Bonhoeffer

17.1 Connect

In 1942, the United States was in the beginning stages of war with Japan. The Doolittle
Raid, also known as the Tokyo Raid, was an air raid on 18 April 1942 by the United States on
the Japanese capital Tokyo and other places on Honshu during World War II. It was the first
air operation to strike the Japanese archipelago. It demonstrated that the Japanese
mainland was vulnerable to American air attacks, served as retaliation for the attack on
Pearl Harbor, and provided an important boost to American morale.

Lieutenant Colonel James Doolittle organized the raid using 16 B-25 bombers. Knowing that they did
not have enough fuel to return to their aircraft carriers, the crews of these bombers knew that they
would have to continue westward to China and probably crash land. Of the 80 crew members asked to
go on this raid, all volunteered knowing that they may not survive the raid. They all to the man realized
that their raid may cost them their lives but were willing to do so for their country.

Jesus recruited people to follow Him. His disciples understood, just like Doolittle’s airmen, that to follow
Christ was a one-way trip toward persecution and suffering. But they gladly picked up the gauntlet for
the sake of knowing Christ. Today, we are going to look at what it will cost every believer who truly
wants to be a disciple of Christ.

17.2 Objectives

1. The student should be able to explain what the cost of discipleship is and support that with
Scripture.

2. The student should be able to explain why the nature of the Gospel will lead to persecution.

3. The student should be able to define “cheap grace” and explain why it is such a dangerous false
doctrine.

17.3 The Cost of Discipleship

It cost Tyndale his life to translate the Bible into the English language. He paid a price in
obedience to Christ.

When Jesus called his disciples to follow Him, Jesus made certain from the very beginning the
cost of following Him. He told them that God’s kingdom, for God’s people, must be the first
priority.

Jesus said, “If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children
and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple. Whoever does not bear his

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