TEXT: Matthew 5:10-12

TITLE: The Cost & Reward of Discipleship

MAIN POINT: because our reward is great in heaven, we can rejoice even when persecution weighs us down

 

OUTLINE:

“When Christ calls a man, he bids him come and die.”

– D. Bonhoeffer, The Cost of Discipleship

WHERE WE ARE HEADED

Matthew 5:10
Revelation 21:1-5

WHAT WILL HAPPEN

Matthew 5:10-11

Suffering, then, is the badge of true discipleship. The disciple is not above his master. Following Christ means suffering because we have to suffer…Discipleship means allegiance to the suffering Christ, and it is therefore not at all surprising that Christians should be called upon to suffer. In fact, it is a joy and a token of grace.

– D. Bonhoeffer, The Cost of Discipleship

 

HOW WE RESPOND

Matthew 5:12
1 Peter 4:12-14

RESOURCES: Commentaries used: Bruner, Lloyd-Jones, Stott; The Sermon on the Mount and Human Flourishing, by Pennington; The Divine Conspiracy, by Willard; The Cost of Discipleship, by Bonhoeffer