Priorities

Do Not Be Afraid, Put Christ First, Live for Him Alone

Matthew 10:24–39

I wonder whether you're someone with expensive tastes?

There’s a Spanish baker who sells a loaf of bread for around £100, largely because he sprinkles £97-worth of edible gold leaf into it. Apparently it's very popular with wealthy tourists.

And did you know you can buy a fish for £1.5 million. The bluefin tuna is a prized delicacy for sushi and sashimi in Japan.

We spend our whole lives weighing up prices against experience—seeing what something costs and whether it is worth it.

Because we live in a consumeristic society, it is not surprising that churches spend time trying to "sell" what we are doing and Christianity in general. We’ve recently been putting together our new website, and we produce posters and social media posts all the time.

We want to make Christianity attractive and, I think, it often becomes a "low-cost" and "low-risk" commodity. With every other option people have, how else will we persuade others to receive the faith if not by presenting it as easy, convenient, and beneficial?

But is the Christian faith really a low-cost, low-risk endeavour?

The Gospel for today offers a challenge to a market-driven approach to Christian mission. Jesus is preparing his disciples to be sent out into the world, but he does not promise them success, comfort, or popularity. Instead, he warns them about opposition, rejection, and sacrifice. Yet at the same time he calls them to courage, trust, and unwavering loyalty.

Jesus begins by reminding his disciples that they should not expect better treatment than he himself receives. "A disciple is not above the teacher, nor a slave above the master." If people accused Jesus, opposed Jesus, and eventually crucified Jesus, why should his followers expect universal approval?

That is not the sort of message likely to attract crowds. We can assume that having a faith should make life easier. Yet Jesus says the opposite. Following him may bring misunderstanding, criticism, and even hostility.

The question is not whether discipleship is costly.

The question is whether Jesus is worth the cost.

Jesus says three times in this passage, "Do not be afraid." Do not fear opposition. Do not fear rejection. Do not fear those who can harm the body but not the soul. The greatest danger facing disciples is not persecution itself but fear.

James suggested last week, heavily based on advice from the bible, that we should boast about Jesus. Not about the church as such. But specifically, Jesus and what he’s done for us. I wonder how many of us have done that this week? Why might we not have?

Because of fear. Fear causes us to compromise when we should stand firm. It tempts us to stay silent when we should speak. It persuades us to hide our faith when following Christ becomes inconvenient. More than anything else, fear encourages us to seek the approval of others rather than the approval of God.

The Cost of Discipleship: Therefore, Put Jesus First

Having comforted his disciples, Jesus then challenges them. He says, "Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me."

These are among the most difficult words Jesus ever spoke. Yet they become clearer when we remember what he is not saying. He is not commanding us to love our families less. He is not encouraging neglect or hostility. After all, Jesus repeatedly affirmed the importance of family relationships and commanded us to love our neighbours.

What he is saying is that our love for him must come first.

Family is a gift from God. Friendship is a gift from God. Our relationships are gifts from God. Children are a gift from God. Yet no gift should ever replace the giver. Every one of us has competing loyalties and competing demands on our lives. The issue is not whether we love many things. The issue is what occupies first place in our hearts.

A man once said to his minister, "I would die for Jesus." The minister replied, "That's wonderful. But would you be willing to tell your next door neighbour that Jesus died or them?"

We often imagine discipleship in dramatic terms. We think of martyrs, missionaries, and heroic acts of sacrifice. Yet most discipleship happens in ordinary moments. It happens when we choose integrity over popularity in terms of naming something about our faith in a situation. Or perhaps speaking up for truth in a situation where it’s awkward. It happens when we serve rather than seek recognition. It happens when we choose obedience over convenience.

Jesus knows that following him can create tension. Sometimes those tensions emerge within families themselves. Not because Jesus wants division, but because his claims are absolute. Every person must eventually answer the question: who comes first?

For the first disciples this was not a theoretical question. Many lost social standing. Some lost family relationships. Others lost livelihoods and security. Yet they discovered that Christ was worth more than everything they surrendered.

A Unified Life in Christ: Therefore, Live for Him Alone

The final section of today's Gospel brings us to one of Jesus' most profound statements: "Those who find their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will find it."

That sounds completely backwards to modern ears. The world tells us to protect ourselves, promote ourselves, and prioritise ourselves. We are encouraged to build our own identity, pursue our own fulfilment, and place our own happiness above everything else.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer famously wrote, "When Christ calls a man, he bids him come and die." Bonhoeffer was not merely speaking about physical death. He was talking about the death of self-centredness, the death of divided loyalties, and the death of the illusion that we can fit Jesus neatly into one corner of our lives while keeping everything else untouched.

The gospel does not offer cheap discipleship. Jesus never advertised an easy life. What he offers is something far greater: a life centred on him, a life rooted in truth, and a life that ultimately cannot be taken away.

Jesus tells us that life is found not in grasping but in surrendering. The world says that life comes from getting more. Jesus says that life comes from giving ourselves away. The world teaches us to preserve our lives at all costs. Jesus teaches us that true life begins when we place our lives entirely in his hands.

This is where discipleship becomes more than church attendance or intellectual belief. It becomes a way of life.

One of the great problems of modern life is fragmentation. We divide ourselves into compartments. We have a work life, a family life, a social life, an online life, a political life, and a church life. We move between those different worlds and often operate by different values in each one.

Jesus will not allow that fragmentation. He refuses to become one priority among many. He insists on becoming the centre from which every other priority flows.

I do want to qualify my own standing here and seemingly preaching ‘at you.’ I struggle with these things too. I fail regularly. I am always preaching to myself.

If Christ is Lord on Sunday morning, he must also be Lord on Monday morning. If Christ shapes our prayers, he must shape our spending.

If Christ governs our worship, he must also govern our politics, our relationships, our ambitions and stewardship of creation.

If Christ commands us to love our neighbour, that command must shape not only our public behaviour but also our private conversations and online interactions. Twice recently I’ve been in the local shops and I’ve seen people be rude. I was with the same person twice and she said to me ‘don’t these people go to your church.’ I also saw, a week ago, a terrible, unthoughtful online post also from a member of our congregation…

No area of life is untouched by discipleship.

The purpose of the Christian life is not simply believing the right things about Jesus. It is becoming people whose whole lives are shaped by Jesus. Everything we say, everything we do, every decision we make, every relationship we have, every resource we steward becomes part of our response to him.

"Follow me" is both gift and demand.

Conclusion

So let me return to where we began.

Do you just want an ordinary loaf—that's cheap?

A loaf scattered with gold—that's expensive?

Or the Bread of Life, who costs everything and yet gives everything?

The gospel (good news!) does not offer a comfortable Christianity. It does not offer a faith built around convenience, popularity, or consumer choice. It offers a Saviour who is worthy of our highest loyalty. And it offers a life that is no longer fragmented but unified under one Lord.

Let’s look at our entire lives, and our behaviour in each situation. What is one area of life that still remains outside Christ's rule?

Because Jesus still asks the same question he asked his first disciples: Will you follow me?

Not only when it is easy. Not only when it is popular. Not only when it costs little. Will you follow me when it costs something?

Do not be afraid. Put Christ first. Live for him alone.

For the one who asks for everything is also the one who gives everything—and more.

Amen.