Preacher's Block

This preaching tip was shared by Preacher’s Block co-founder, Hunter Bethea. If you’re interested in joining the most focused preachers in the world and getting these tips sent to your inbox every week, sign up here.

This week’s Preaching Tip is a follow up to last week’s preaching tip on counting the cost of discipleship:

In addition to talking about the cost of discipleship, it’s also helpful to talk about the cost of non-discipleship. In other words, we need to answer the question in our sermons: “What if I don’t do what Jesus says? What if I don’t follow Jesus in this way?”

It’s one thing to say, “Here’s the cost of following Jesus.” It’s another to say, “And here’s the cost of not following Jesus.” It doesn’t have to be a hellfire-and-brimstone-type cost. It can be a small cost. But every decision we make has a cost (just ask your economics friends about “Opportunity Cost”). It may be that the cost is poor sleep or worry or becoming more bitter.

When Andy Crouch and John Mark Comer talked about this idea on a podcast, they gave the example of encouraging Christians to stay off social media as much as possible. They encouraged pastors to not just talk about the good that comes from being off social media, but also the bad of being on social media. That’s the cost of non-discipleship.