Dietrich Bonhoeffer warns about "cheap grace" in his book titled, "The Cost of Discipleship." Bonhoeffer defines "cheap grace" as "the preaching of forgiveness without requiring repentance, baptism without church discipline, communion without confession. Cheap grace is grace without discipleship, grace without the cross, grace without Jesus Christ, living and incarnate." The Great Commission of our Lord Jesus Christ involves making disciples (Matthew 28:18-20). From Luke 9:57-62, notice three elements of the cost of discipleship.

First, there is an unexpected expense. Luke 9:57-58 reads, "Now it happened as they journeyed on the road, that someone said to Him, 'Lord, I will follow You wherever You go.' And Jesus said to him, 'Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head.'" While salvation is the gift of God, Jesus explains there is the cost of discipleship that must be counted. As a disciple we must surrender our provisions to the Lord.

Second, there is an unexperienced expectation. Luke 9:59-60 reads, "Then He said to another, 'Follow Me.' But he said, 'Lord, let me first go and bury my father.' Jesus said to him, 'Let the dead bury their own dead, but you go and preach the kingdom of God.'" Sometimes your family pays a price when you obey God. Some expectations will be unfulfilled. As a disciple we must surrender our priorities to the Lord.

Third, there is an unexpressed explanation. Luke 9:61-62 reads, "And another also said, 'Lord, I will follow You, but let me first go and bid them farewell who are at my house.' But Jesus said to him, 'No one, having put his hand to the plow, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.'" As the hymnwriter declares, "I have decided to follow Jesus, no turning back, no turning back." As a disciple we must surrender our practices to the Lord.

Earlier, Luke records this personal penetrating question, "But why do you call Me 'Lord, Lord,' and not do the things which I say?" (Luke 6:46). Later, Luke shares the following about the cost of discipleship in Luke 14:25-27, and 33: "Now great multitudes went with Him. And He turned and said to them, 'If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and his own life also, he cannot be My disciple. And whoever does not bear his cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple ... whoever of you does not forsake all that he has cannot be My disciple.'" Bonhoeffer explains, "As we embark upon discipleship we surrender ourselves to Christ in union with his death-we give over our lives to death. Thus it begins; the cross is not the terrible end to an otherwise god fearing and happy life, but it meets us at the beginning of our communion with Christ. When Christ calls a man, he bids him come and die."

Dr. Franklin L. Kirksey, of Robertsdale, is the author of "Don't Miss the Revival! Messages for Revival and Spiritual Awakening from Isaiah.