What is the Cost of Discipleship? A Biblical Look at Following Christ

When Jesus called His followers to discipleship, He never promised an easy path. In fact, He repeatedly challenged people to count the cost before following Him (Luke 14:25-33). For many believers, this looks like surrender, obedience, sacrifice, and more.

Still, throughout Scripture, we see biblical examples of discipleship where the rewards outweigh the sacrifices. From Peter leaving his fishing nets to Paul dedicating his life to advancing the Gospel, these biblical examples of discipleship remind us that God uses ordinary people who are willing to surrender their lives to His purposes. At Grace Theological Seminary, that same commitment continues, equipping students to faithfully teach, lead, and disciple others in a rapidly changing world.

One of the clearest signs of Christian maturity is becoming a disciple-maker yourself! Hebrews 5:12 challenges believers who should have been teaching others, but they remained spiritually immature. Instead of fully participating in God’s mission, they were missing opportunities to invest in others’ faith and to experience the joy of helping people grow in Christ.

We are all called to be disciple-makers. 

While not all are called to be formal teachers (James 3:1), the Great Commission enlists all of us to be involved in the discipling process of believers, teaching them to become more like Christ (Matthew 28:18-20). That responsibility requires a growing understanding of Scripture and the ability to apply biblical truth to real-life situations. This is the reason why theological training has played such an important role throughout church history. 

Setting discipleship as our priority helps us not to fall into the trap of settling for a lesser purpose and story than our God-given potential in Christ. As Christians, we have a new identity to live out, which includes being a minister of reconciliation. (2 Cor. 5:20), encouraging the disheartened, and helping the weak (1 Thess. 5:14).

Disciple-making gives us a front-row seat to what God is doing. 

Taking our own personal relationship with Jesus seriously allows us to be able to walk alongside others who also earnestly desire to follow Christ. For pastors and ministry leaders, this responsibility becomes even greater. Those entrusted with teaching God’s Word must be prepared to shepherd others with wisdom and biblical accuracy.

As we learn to walk in step with the Spirit (Galatians 5:25) and provide spiritual support for others, we get a front-row seat to the work of God as He produces His fruit in the lives of others (Galatians 5:22-23). Our faith is bolstered when we fight for others in prayer, celebrate breakthroughs that provide freedom from besetting sins, and watch God work in the lives of those we are disciplining. Our joy in the Lord is multiplied when we allow others to be nourished by our soul’s hospitality and we ourselves gain strength from being used for God’s redemptive purposes. 

Biblical examples of discipleship show us why spiritual maturity matters.

While Jesus calls us to count the cost of discipleship, Scripture also reminds us that spiritual immaturity carries its own consequences that can keep believers from experiencing the abundant life Christ offers. Let us count the cost:

• Living with oppressive fear. “I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. Before long, the world will not see me anymore, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live” (John 14:18-19, NIV). Orphans who have been newly adopted sometimes live with a scarcity mindset. Even though their needs have now been met, they can suffer from fear of abandonment and may have difficulty trusting in someone who will provide for them. “But perfect love drives out fear . . . the one who fears is not made perfect in love” (1 John 4:18, NIV). Fear does not feel good and does not have to be the ongoing experience of the maturing disciple.
• Being enslaved to unhealthy mindsets. “Now I say, as long as the heir is a child, he does not differ at all from a slave although he is the owner of everything” (Galatians 4:1). “Formerly when you did not know God, you were slaves to those who by nature are not gods. But now that you know God—or rather are known by God—how is it that you are turning back to those weak and miserable forces? Do you wish to be enslaved by them all over again?” (Galatians 4:8-9). The problem with an enslaved mindset is that, while one has been given immense resources for a new way of life, they are of no value because they are not appropriated in practical ways. Slavery does not feel good and does not have to be the ongoing experience of the maturing disciple.
• Instability in life. Throughout the New Testament, we hear that maturity is the goal for every believer (Col. 1:28). Infancy is fine if you are truly new in the faith, but an extended spiritual childhood does not produce the abundant life Jesus came to bring. Growth allows one to become more stable (James 1:2-8) and to be able to discern good from evil (Hebrews 5:14). These qualities are part of a mature disciples’ life which allows us to “no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes” (Ephesians 4:14). Instability does not feel good and does not have to be the ongoing experience of the maturing disciple.

To summarize, Dallas Willard1 puts it this way: 

“To depart from righteousness is to choose a life of crushing burdens, failures, and disappointments, a life caught in the toils of endless problems that are never resolved. Here is the source of that unending soap opera, that sometimes horror show known as normal human life. The ‘cost of discipleship,’ though it may take all we have, is small when compared to a lot of those who don’t accept Christ’s invitation to be a part of his company in The Way of life.”

So how do we count the cost of discipleship? 

Understanding the cost of discipleship is not merely an academic exercise. It is a call to faithfully follow Christ and help others do the same. Whether you serve as a pastor, missionary, church leader, or disciple-maker in your local congregation, God uses equipped believers to strengthen His Church.

At Grace Theological Seminary, students are prepared to teach God’s Word, make disciples, and lead with biblical conviction. Through programs like the Master of Divinity and the Master of Arts in Christian Ministry, students receive the theological training, spiritual formation, and ministry experience necessary to help others count the cost of discipleship and follow Christ faithfully.

1 Dallas Willard, The Spirit of the Disciplines (San Francisco, CA: HarperCollins, 1991)