Cheap Discipleship

In his book, The Cost of Discipleship, Dietrich Bonhoeffer talked about cheap grace and costly grace. He defined cheap grace as grace we extend to ourselves…grace without discipleship.

We could just as easily talk about cheap discipleship because discipleship is a term that gets used by many people, but few fully understand the word disciple as Jesus used it.  Much of what is considered discipleship today consists of programs and strategies designed to make believers better Christians. These focus on processes and actions—more prayers, more quiet time, more of whatever we or the culture determines makes you a better Christian. Or simply feel good words from a therapeutic God.

But all of those things, important as they may be, miss the key ingredient in discipleship: a changed heart that leads to changed behavior—deeper love with Jesus leading to transformed lives.

Often discipleship is described as being a follower of Jesus. The twelve disciples come to mind. But to get a better understanding of discipleship it helps to take a good look at the progression in the disciples’ relationship with Jesus. Over the span of their three years with him, they moved from an invitation to come and see, then to follow, then to be with Jesus and finally to remain in him. Little did they know when they answered that first call—to come and see the amazing things Jesus was doing—that following Jesus would consume their lives and in the end cost them their lives. 

As Bonhoeffer recognized, authentic discipleship requires sacrifice. For Bonhoeffer, too, it meant his life. For us, it may mean a lifestyle. Christianity can no longer be a Sunday morning event, or a growing knowledge of biblical truth and doctrine. Costly discipleship demands "our life, our soul, our all" as an old hymn says—our intellect and emotions, our words and deeds. It means giving up our own desires and submitting them to God’s higher plan and purposes. For independent-minded Westerners that is a challenge. That’s why the call to discipleship is not one to take lightly. Be prepared to pay the price. 

Part of our mission at Ascending Leaders is to help people understand what it means to grow as disciples in all the fullness of the Word. We do that in a variety of ways:

• seminary classes

• workshops for ministry leaders and staff 

• workbooks suitable for personal devotions or small groups (go to www.ascendingleaders.org to view our complete inventory and order)

• blogs, and talks.

You can find two Ted-like Talks on our YouTube channel to learn more about the history of discipleship and its varied implications.