Mark 10:28-31
Sometimes you have to weigh the costs. An opportunity cost is more than just the cost of a good or service, it includes the cost of whatever you are giving up or what you could be doing instead. We did a lot of weighing the opportunity costs of staying in Cape Coral as opposed to coming up to Lake Wales. In Cape Coral we had long-term friends and a wonderful church family, but the adventure of God was calling us elsewhere. It would have been easier to stay, but we would have missed out on so much! We knew it would be a challenge in Lake Wales, but it was time for us to take it. I think Jesus was echoing the same idea while speaking to the disciples.
Letting people into our hearts and homes carries risk. We are putting ourselves on the front lines of ministry and with that, opening ourselves to who knows what. It hurt Rosaria and her family to be robbed, but listen to what God did in them with the loss of their things.
The day after we were robbed, Kent pushed the grill to the front yard, where the picnic table was already waiting. Then he posted three things on our Nextdoor app: (1) we were robbed; (2) robbers took stuff, but no one was harmed, and the robbers could not take things of eternal value—the Word of God and the souls of people; (3) we would love for everyone to join us for burgers and hot dogs on the Lord’s Day, starting at 3:00. He pushed “Send.” Then Susanna pointed out that Sunday was Mother’s Day and my husband had just invited 300 people to our front yard. Well, that is how things go at the Butterfields’. Kent also invited our whole church to come. He wanted to make sure that there would be plenty of believers to help our unbelieving neighbors process the robbery. That has always been Kent’s strategy—have a house filled with God’s people who can then help our neighbors see the hand of God in the everyday details of life, including the providence of being robbed.
The Gospel Comes with a Housekey, 92-93
Discipleship is a Life of Loss
Everyone has something to lose. Many people choose to follow God because of what we gain (eternal life, for example), yet the reality is much more about what we lose (either by choice or by circumstance) than what we gain. It could be relationships, possessions, opportunities, dignity, anything. When we come to God, He asks for our whole life, as He is putting is in a plan to bring the world to Him, which means that He may have to move us to put us where He wants us or prepare us by taking things away. Nita experienced great loss when God called her back to the states despite her desire to stay as an international worker. Practicing ordinary hospitality may mean losing a broken dish or two. It might be sacrificing time with friends or family because we are focused on ministry, or it might be pain we experience because of those relationships – or one of a plethora of other options. This is simply something God asks us to allow – loss – which is a guarantee when we invest in people.
Discipleship is a Life of Promise
Just like with Abraham, Moses, and many other Old Testament (OT) leaders, we have a promise that our loss will lead to gain, but we need to understand that doesn’t mean the gain will happen in this life. The OT patriarchs didn’t receive the promise, but died trusting in the promise that would come. Hebrews 11 puts that all together well. We may not see the results of our hospitality and our time being around the “messy” of the world, but we trust in the promise that God is working out all things for good – whether we can see it or not. We might receive earthly blessings, but those aren’t really worth mentioning, because we can’t live for those. Only the eternal promise can matter – it has to be all about God, even if all else goes south.
Discipleship is a Life of Surprise
I always found this an interesting warning to come at the heels of this passage (v31). We need to realize that what we see may not be reality. People can keep secrets, hide things, and while we can see spiritual fruit in people’s lives, there is no absolute litmus test to ensure that’s exactly what we’re seeing. Think pregnancy tests – they may be accurate, but not always and they can be hard to read. Because of that, our only real option is to trust and be willing to lose. If our focus has anything to do with this life – expectations of how people will respond, what we may gain, anything — we have to expect to be surprised. The only thing we can hold constant is that the promise is waiting for us at the end. Other than that, it’s anyone’s guess as to who will make it to the end, how one may get there (consider Rosaria’s story compared to Jerry Falwell). All we can do is walk the path and see what happens along the way.
Next Steps
Discipleship is a hard road that comes with big risks. But God is using you as an example of real life. That means your faith, though personal is NOT private. You will be living out real, difficult faith in front of others.
- Discuss with believing friends and do a ministry risk assessment. What might you be ok with God taking away?
- Soak in 2 Samuel 7 and ponder what it would feel like to have God tell you No to something so important to you. Are you ok with God giving that to someone else?
- Get an accountability partner. It’s the best we can do to fight our own chances to fall away.
It’s hard to have God test so powerfully and privately what we proclaim publicly. Even if we are hurt, people can’t take the things that matter most – our souls, his Word, and our future promise in heaven (pg92). Are you willing to give up the rest for Him?
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