Paul on the
Cost of Discipleship
(II Corinthians 4:8-12)
8 We are afflicted on every side, yet are we not in distress: we are in doubt, but yet we despair not. 9 We are persecuted, but not forsaken: cast down, but we perish not. 10 Everywhere we bear about in our body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life of Jesus might also be made manifest in our bodies. 11 For we which live, are always delivered unto death for Jesus' sake, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our mortal flesh. 12 So then death worketh in us, and life in you.
I. True Discipleship Brings Hardship
a. Full Bible Ministry is Difficult. "We are afflicted on every side, yet are we not in distress: we are in doubt, but yet we despair not. We are persecuted, but not forsaken: cast down, but we perish not." (II Corinthians 4:8-9)
b. God Abhors Watered Down Ministry. "Having a show of godliness, but have denied the power thereof: turn away therefore from such." (II Timothy 3:5)
c. Hardship in Discipleship is Normal. "I Beseech you therefore brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye give up your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable serving of God." (Romans 12:1)
d. 'Thus Saith the Lord' Brings Hardship. "For then the king of Babel's host besieged Jerusalem: and Jeremiah the Prophet was shut up in the court of the prison, which was in the King of Judah's house. For Zedekiah king of Judah had shut him up, saying, Wherefore dost thou prophesy, and say, Thus saith the Lord, Behold, I will give this city into the hands of the King of Babel, and he shall take it?" (Jeremiah 32:2-3)
e. True Discipleship Includes Alienation and Delayed Blessing. "All these died in faith, and received not the promises, but saw them afar off, and believed them, and received them thankfully, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth. But now they desire a better, that is an heavenly: wherefore God is not ashamed of them to be called their God: for he hath prepared for them a city." (Hebrews 11:13,16)
f. Acceptance of Hardship Marks True Discipleship. "Jesus then said to his disciples, If any man will follow me, let him forsake himself: and take up his cross, and follow me." (Matthew 16:24)
II. Jesus' Life and Death Define Discipleship
a. Hardship in Discipleship Proclaims the Life and Death of Jesus Christ. "Everywhere we bear about in our body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life of Jesus might also be made manifest in our bodies." (II Corinthians 4:10)
b. Hardship in Discipleship Demonstrates the Life of Jesus Christ. "For we which live, are always delivered unto death for Jesus' sake, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our mortal flesh." (II Corinthians 4:11)
c. Hardship in Discipleship is a Prelude to Everlasting Life with Jesus Christ. "It is a true saying, For if we be dead together with him: we also shall live together with him." (II Timothy 2:11)
III. True Disciples Are Used by God to Proclaim the Gospel
a. The Disciple's Suffering Reflects Christ to the World. "Everywhere we bear about in our body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life of Jesus might also be made manifest in our bodies." (II Corinthians 4:10)
b. The Disciple's Suffering Parallels the New Life of the Believer. "So then death worketh in us, and life in you." (II Corinthians 4:12)
Scripture Texts - 1599 Geneva Bible
