The Cost of Following Jesus

This weekend I'll have the opportunity to preach live at North Way East End. I'll be teaching about Peter's restoration and the cost of following Jesus based out of the passage of Scripture from John 21:15-19. In this interesting section of the Bible, Jesus gives Peter his difficult calling, he tells him how he is going to die (crucified), and then he tells Peter to "follow me."

I think it's amazing that Jesus tells Peter how he will die. Peter knew he would die a violent death as a martyr in order to glorify God. The remaining years of Peter's life ended up being filled with suffering, persecution, imprisonment, and ultimately martyrdom. And, yet, the gospel of Jesus Christ spread at a tremendous rate through the ministry of people like Peter. God used people like Peter who were willing to be downwardly mobile, to risk all, for the sake of advancing God's mission.

At the end of his life, Peter found himself in Rome. He experienced persecution and imprisonment there under the Roman emperor Nero. Nero ordered mass killings of Christians, and it's likely that Peter and Paul were both killed in Rome as a result of these actions. What kind of way was this to advance a movement... to have the most passionate followers persecuted and martyred in the middle of a chaotic city?

Throughout the course of human history, we have seen that Christianity grows exponentially when it is subversive to mainstream society. Even today, we see that Christianity is growing among marginalized people groups who often experience persecution. Many Christians around the world in places like Latin America, Africa, and Asia are experiencing suffering and being martyred. Christianity continues to expand rapidly in those areas of the world while it continues to decline in places like Europe and America where we do not experience much persecution.

I find it interesting that Jesus plans to build his church through Peter, and that he tells Peter that he is going to die violently for his sake. In Jesus' last words to Peter, he chose not to tell him to save up a bunch of money so that he could retire comfortably. Jesus didn't tell Peter to responsibly build equity throughout his lifetime by building bigger and bigger homes. Jesus asked Peter to embrace downward mobility by saying two simple words: "Follow me." This brief interaction between Jesus and Peter presents quite a challenge for all followers of Jesus. What does it truly mean for each of us to follow Jesus? Are we willing to walk away from the comforts of this world in order to follow Jesus into dangerous places in order to advance the kingdom of God?