Counting the Cost

I’m a pastor but I’ll be honest, there are some days that I wake up and wonder what it would be like to do something else, like sell vacuums, work at Starbucks, or be a professional body builder (if you know me, you know that’s a joke). I don’t have these thoughts very often but when I do it’s usually rooted out of an angry email I received about something I said in a sermon or after doing a wedding with a difficult mother-of-the-bride.  Sometimes I wonder what it would be like to have an occupation where I made a lot of money, didn’t have to work long and strange hours, or endure scrutiny and criticism from church-goers who think the worship band is too loud or that I should preach like Joel Osteen. 

I’m not complaining (although it sure sounds like I am), it’s just that recently I’ve been thinking about what it means to follow Jesus, particularly as a pastor.  I can’t help but think about how following Jesus today must look drastically different than it did two-thousand years ago, when people were literally following him from place to place, going where he went and gleaning as much as they could from him.  I can’t help but think of Peter throwing down his fishing nets or Zacchaeus promising to give half of his wealth to the poor and pay back anyone he had cheated four times over. 

Truth is, repeatedly throughout scripture when people decided to follow Jesus it cost them something.  In Luke 14 Jesus himself reminds us that there is a cost to being His disciple and that one should weigh heavily whether or not they are willing to take “his yoke upon them”. 

As a pastor I can’t help but wonder if there are specific areas of cost every clergyman should consider.  According to scripture we see that the cost of following Jesus is to ultimately be as much like Jesus as possible and I wonder how many of us within ministry would admit that there are some areas that we simply fall short.  I wonder how many of us in ministry honestly look like Jesus in how we pastor and lead.

Recently, in the midst of some self-examination, I came to see that there were certain glaring areas of my ministry (and life) that didn’t exactly live up to the standards Jesus had laid out for me.  I don’t think I’m on this island alone though and have come to see that many in ministry are selling Jesus and their calling a little short.

We Pull Our Punches

I’ve done it, and I’m sure you have too.  The gospel is hard, its teachings can be hard, but every now and then we water it down a little bit to make and easier to swallow.  After all, we don’t want to offend anyone or step on toes if we don’t have to. 

Of course this completely flies in the face of how Jesus went about things.  Jesus was never too concerned with offending people. On the contrary, he was more concerned with sharing truth and if that meant that toes were stepped on or people were offended, well, that was all par for the course.

We Want People to Think We’ve Got It All Together

One of my favorite stories in the Bible is in Matthew 21, when, I’ll just say it, Jesus loses it for a second.  He enters the Temple, sees the money changers making a quick dime in God’s house and flips out.  He begins turning over tables and throwing chairs and screaming at money changers.  I imagine the disciples huddled up together in a corner wondering if Jesus was going all Charlie Sheen on them.

I love this story because Jesus is real, he’s upset, and he’s vulnerable.  All too often we preachers think of the pulpit as a place to be presentable and respectable.  We share our success stories and make sure everyone knows that we support not one but two Compassion International kids.  We don’t talk about how we flunked out of Bible College or that we still have no clue how to pronounce Zerubbabel.  Thus, we miss opportunities to really connect with our congregations, which are full of people who also don’t have it together.

We Table Touch

Some time ago my wife worked as a General Manager at a little breakfast restaurant.  Once a month the restaurant would have what was called secret shoppers, people who were incognito and there to critique the restaurant.  One of the areas under surveillance was whether the manager did “table touches” – meaning, did the manager go by each customer’s table and ask how their meal was?  This is a regular practice in most restaurants but unfortunately it’s a regular occurrence in many churches as well.  

All too often instead of building deep and meaningful relationships with those in our churches many ministers keep their distance, al l the while maintaining the illusion of being relationally invested in people’s lives.  This may sound like an outlandish claim but I know many ministers who are so concerned with preaching and teaching that they see very little value in building relationships or being pastoral.  One of the great bits of advice I’ve received in my life was from a mentor who reminded me that good leaders don’t just lead from the stage but through relationships and connecting with people one on one.  This is, after all, how Jesus started this little movement of his, by connecting with people and genuinely loving and caring for them.

We Want To Grow Churches & Programs, not People

In his book Transforming the Church in Rural America Shannon O’Dell reminds us, “When you desire to grow a congregation, you will never get it.  But if you grow congregants, then you are going to see transformation in their lives and within the church.”  Often we put the cart before the horse, asking God to bless our congregations or church programs by growing them in number, forgetting that Jesus cares desperately about that one lost sheep. 

I once told our congregation that I wanted to see us make the jump from 1,000 people to 1,500 people.  In all honesty, I couldn’t help but feel a little bit dirty as I challenged the church in this way, not because it’s wrong or sinful to pray for and desire church growth but because in that moment I knew I was more concerned with the number than the people.  This was a defining moment in my ministry as I realized my priorities were out of whack.  I had some repenting to do and it led me to this realization about myself:  I wanted to be known.

We Want To Be Known

We live in a culture like no other, where podcasts, social media, smart phone apps, and the magic of the internet has helped to create a world where pastors can be rock stars.  Truth be told, ministry has morphed into its own little subculture, where leadership experts and captivating communicators are viewed as gods or ministry superheroes.  In no way do I fault guys like Driscoll, Stanley, or Hybels for doing what God has gifted them to do!  The problem, however, lies in the pastor who aspires to reach their status, not for the sake of bringing glory to Christ, but to bring glory upon themselves. 

To say that scripture speaks against this sort of mindset would be an understatement.  Many biblical scholars agree that if one were to rank sin pride would likely be at the top of the list.  There’s a reason that God “detests the proud” (Psalms 16:5).  Simply put, when we place attention and glory upon ourselves we steal it from our heavenly father.  Our desire should always be to point people to Jesus, not to ourselves.

We Want Comfort

About a year ago I was in the process of trying to recruit a student pastor for our church.  I pastor  just north of Denver, Colorado but being from Kentucky most of my connections are in that part of the country.  So initially, most of the candidates I pursued where from there as well.  Our church reaches out to many unchurched individuals and after sharing this with the candidates I spoke with each of them claimed that that was how God had wired them, with a passion for the non-believer.  Yet, I was shocked when I couldn’t convince these youth pastors from Kentucky (a highly saturated church culture) to consider coming to Colorado (one of the least churched states in the country). 

It’s not that Kentucky doesn’t need youth ministers; I just felt a slight contradiction in some of these particular candidates’ callings.  Then it donned on me: I was asking them to leave home, to move across the country. 

My cynical side couldn’t help but think about the irony in saying to Jesus, “I’m all yours.  Where you lead me, I will follow.  I want to be at the center of your will … as long as it’s within an hour’s drive of my wife’s parents.”

One of my good friends was recently commenting on how many of those he went to Bible College with, mostly students who pursued degrees in Missions, ended up staying put right there in that little college town because the cost of living was so low.  They never pursued the mission field, opting instead for reasonable milk prices. 

I know it sounds as though I’m being judgmental but truth is, I’m as guilty of this as anyone.  The question this raises for those of us in ministry is important: Are we sacrificing calling for comfort? Do we forget that Jesus put himself through the ultimate discomfort for us and challenges us repeatedly to die to ourselves?

The Cost

As pastors we know that we’ve sacrificed luxurious, stress free lifestyles.  We know we’ve taken on a calling that opens itself up to scrutiny and criticism.  Ours is no easy task, but nonetheless, it is a vocation of the utmost importance.  May we consider the cost fully, putting aside the desire to keep people at a distance and having an aversion to vulnerability.  May we cast down our pride and be willing to sacrifice comfort for calling.  May we be less concerned with whether or not we come across as offensive and more concerned with preaching truth.  May we count the cost, die to ourselves, and pastor with a conviction to be like Jesus.

Ryan Rasmussen is a teaching pastor at Rocky Mountain Christian Church in Frederick, Colorado. He is a husband, father, preacher and writer. He has also recently started cutting his own hair. You can follow him on Twitter @RyanRRasmussen.