This is the fifth and final article in the “Counting the Cost” series of posts here at Cross Talk.

In this series we have covered four instances of Jesus explaining the cost of becoming one of his disciples. Today we wrap up the series with an example of a man who gave up everything and endured hardships in the name of Jesus Christ.

We are going to look at Paul. When he had a chance to follow Christ he gave up everything to proclaim the Gospel throughout the known world.

Paul is not the only example of course; Stephen was stoned to death for his faith, and most of the apostles were martyred for their faith according to church tradition. But I have chosen to use Paul as an example because he had more to give up than most of the others. The apostles were mostly fishermen and tax collectors who didn’t have much, while Paul came from a wealthy family and he had learning and position.

Counting the Cost

Paul met Jesus on the road to Damascus and was called out by Jesus. He was blinded and humbled. Paul had a choice to make at this point. Just like all of the other examples we have looked at in this series, it was time for him to count the cost of following Jesus.

As one who was hunting down, persecuting, and jailing Christians there was nobody who knew better what the cost of following Jesus would be. Despite this, Paul chose to follow Jesus.

Here is what Paul endured in his lifetime after giving up everything to follow Jesus:

with far greater labors, far more imprisonments, with countless beatings, and often near death. ²⁴ Five times I received at the hands of the Jews the forty lashes less one. ²⁵ Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned. Three times I was shipwrecked; a night and a day I was adrift at sea; ²⁶ on frequent journeys, in danger from rivers, danger from robbers, danger from my own people, danger from Gentiles, danger in the city, danger in the wilderness, danger at sea, danger from false brothers; ²⁷ in toil and hardship, through many a sleepless night, in hunger and thirst, often without food, in cold and exposure.¹

This would have been enough to make many men walk away, but how did Paul respond to all of this:

¹¹ Not that I am speaking of being in need, for I have learned, in whatever situation I am, to be content. ¹² I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need. ¹³ I can do all things through him who strengthens me.²

Unlike the rich man we saw in the last “Counting the Cost” article, Paul did not find his happiness in accumulating temporal treasures. He gave up all he had so he could follow Christ, and he learned to be content no matter what he was going through.

It didn’t matter to him if he had food or shelter because he leaned on Christ, and Christ was all he needed. Paul was storing up his treasures in heaven.

Faithful Until the End

And throughout his life he never wavered or faltered, even when he knew his execution was right around the corner:

⁷ I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.³

Paul counted the cost and made the right choice. It was not easy, in fact it was oftentimes quite difficult, and even when he knew he would be executed he stayed the course because he knew heavenly treasures awaited him.

During this series we have seen examples of people who walked away because they thought the asking price to be paid in following Jesus was too high. I thought taking a look at one person who made the right decision would be the proper way to end this series.

Now the decision is yours and the decision is mine. We all must count the cost of following Jesus. And as we saw in this series we could be laughed at, frowned upon, and ridiculed. We could lose family members and friends, but we have to decide what is more important to us; earthly comfort for a short time, or heavenly treasures for eternity.

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1. 2 Corinthians 11:23-27 ESV ↩︎
2. Philippians 4:11-13 ESV ↩︎
3. 2 Timothy 4:7 ESV ↩︎