Rising With Courage: The Real Cost of Following Jesus
Scripture: Luke 14:25-33
Worship Livestream: Sunday, September 6th Livestream
30-Second Summary
Jesus is honest that discipleship has a cost. The Christian life is not a promise of ease or prosperity. Yet the cost is not paid to earn God’s love; grace is already ours in Christ. Because nothing can separate anyone from the love of God, we rise with courage to speak and live that love for all people, even when the message is unpopular or our voice trembles.
The Cost Jesus Never Hid
Following Jesus is not a promise that life will become easy. In Luke 14:25-33, Jesus tells the crowd to count the cost. He does not recruit disciples with fine print hidden at the bottom. He is honest: the way of Jesus can disrupt our comfort, strain relationships, challenge our assumptions, and ask us to stand when staying quiet would be easier.
Christian faith is sometimes sold as a formula for success: pray hard enough, give enough, believe strongly enough, and life will work out. But grace is not a bargain in which God rewards our performance. Grace is a gift. We follow Jesus not because faith guarantees comfort, but because Christ has already met us with love.
Grace Is Free. Discipleship Is Real.
Lutheran theology holds two truths together. We cannot earn God’s love. Christ comes to us while we are still sinners. And that grace changes the direction of our lives. We are freed from performing for God so that we can become available to our neighbor.
The cost of discipleship is not an admission price into God’s kingdom. Jesus has already opened the door. The cost comes when grace sends us into a world that does not always welcome mercy, forgiveness, belonging, or courageous love.
When Grace Gets Pushback
Sometimes the strongest resistance to a wide, grace-filled gospel comes from other Christians. A church can say that God loves the world, that there is room at the table, and that no one is a second-class child of God—and still be told that such welcome goes too far.
Our answer is to keep returning to the cross. At the cross, God does not wait for humanity to become lovable. God acts first. Grace comes first. We welcome because Christ welcomed us.
Courage With a Trembling Voice
Dietrich Bonhoeffer understood that discipleship can be costly. His resistance to the Nazi regime and his insistence that Christian faith could not be separated from responsibility for the neighbor carried terrible consequences. His witness reminds us that faith becomes visible in what we are willing to risk for the sake of love, truth, and the neighbor.
For most of us, courage takes ordinary forms: refusing a cruel joke, defending someone who is being pushed aside, telling a friend that God’s love is not reserved for the “right” kind of people, or staying in a difficult conversation without giving up compassion. Courage is not fearlessness. It is faithfulness while fear is still present.
Nothing Means Nothing
Romans 8 gives the church a promise strong enough to stand on: nothing in all creation can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus. Nothing means nothing.
That promise roots us. Then it sends us rising. We do not need to win every argument. We do need to make the gospel visible: God loves, forgives, welcomes and is still calling people into life.
Weekly Spiritual Practice
Once this week, choose one moment when silence would be easier and lovingly name or show God’s unconditional grace. Keep it simple: welcome someone, speak up for someone, share a word of hope, or say clearly, “God’s love is for you, too.”
Before you speak or act, pray: “Holy Spirit, give me courage and keep me rooted in grace.” Then take one faithful step. Your voice may tremble. Love can still be heard.
