The Cost of Discipleship | 6/21 Millbrook UMC Traditional Worship

The church’s job is to make “little Christs,” not to curate an easy path of Christianity. C. S. Lewis names that vocation plainly, and a quick, grace-filled quip from a five-feet-tall and bulletproof Ruth Harper Stevens lands it on the ground: “we are just all little Christs, aren’t we?” That call summons disciples into Jesus’ harder words too, the kind that unsettle family peace and personal comfort. The path looks like the old Methodist road map John Wesley gave: do no harm, do good, and attend to the ordinances of God, or in plainer speech, stay in love with God.

Do no harm names concrete refusals: taking God’s name in vain, drunkenness, slaveholding, fighting and quarreling, uncharitable talk, contempt for public servants and spiritual leaders, and laying up treasures on earth. Bishop Rueben Job presses the point further: doing no harm guards both action and silence so that neither injures God’s children or God’s creation. That posture sees every person as a child of God, a recipient of unearned love, and it leans toward healing instead of hurt, wholeness instead of division, harmony with Jesus’ ways rather than those of this world.

Doing good turns faith outward in mercy toward bodies and souls: feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, visiting the sick and imprisoned, and embracing a daily cross of self-denial. Neighbors are not abstractions. The ninety-eight unhoused neighbors who sleep within sight of the church, the commuters streaming past in need of grace, the first-time attender staggering through a major life transition, the co-worker with a quiet ache, the soul sitting two pews over… the question becomes not whether there is opportunity, but where and to whom disciples can do the most good that looks like Jesus’ healing, restoring, serving.

Staying in love with God undergirds everything else. Worship, Scripture, the Lord’s Supper, and prayer keep the heart tethered to the One who sends. Without that love, efforts to do no harm and do good run dry; with it, God supplies power to keep the rules and sustains thanksgiving for what Christ has already done. Jesus sets captives free from curved-inward lives, mends divisions and hurts, and washes sinners again and again with unmerited grace.

Costly grace refuses to be cheap because it cost God the life of his Son. Bonhoeffer’s cadence holds: the grace that calls to follow Jesus also gives the only life worth having. “You were bought at a price,” so the cost of discipleship is counted against having already gained everything. If the hymn needs one edit, it is this: the world around, the cross before, because the cross was given for the world. So fall in love, stay in love, and let that love decide everything.

Key Takeaways

• 1. The church makes little Christs C. S. Lewis’s line cuts through busy church life to a single aim: people who actually resemble Jesus. Programs, buildings, even sermons are expendable if they do not serve this end. The measure of faithfulness is Christlikeness that shows up in actual lives, not mere affiliation. [32:10]
• 2. Do no harm reshapes attention Wesley’s first rule is not vague niceness; it is a disciplined refusal of common evils in word, habit, and desire. Rueben Job widens the lens to include harmful silence and calls for seeing every person as a child of God. This is a daily guard on tongue, temper, and choices so healing wins out over hurt. [37:43]
• 3. Doing good takes concrete form Mercy is embodied: food, clothing, visits, presence. It is also spiritual: patient endurance, self-denial, and the cross carried daily. The need stands at the curb and sits in the pew, so the faithful question becomes where to do the most good that looks like Jesus. [39:48]
• 4. Staying in love fuels obedience Worship, Scripture, the Table, and prayer are not extras; they are oxygen. Without love for God, service becomes drivenness and eventually dries up. God himself supplies the power to keep the rules he gives, so intimacy becomes the engine of integrity. [41:29]
• 5. Grace is costly, not cheap Bonhoeffer names the paradox: grace gives life and also costs a life, because it cost God his Son. “You were bought at a price” means discipleship cannot be marked by shortcuts or bargains. The cost is real, but it is paid in the light of a treasure already received. [45:11]

Youtube Chapters

• [00:00] - Welcome
• [31:43] - Title and Jesus’ hard saying
• [32:10] - C. S. Lewis and “little Christs”
• [32:46] - Ruth Harper Stevens’ velvet brick
• [34:17] - The church’s job: follow Jesus
• [35:27] - Wesley’s General Rules introduced
• [36:07] - Do no harm in Wesley’s words
• [36:22] - Naming common evils to avoid
• [37:43] - Rueben Job on guarding harm
• [38:53] - Doing good: bodies and souls
• [39:48] - Neighbor love is not theoretical
• [41:29] - Attend the ordinances of God
• [42:31] - God equips those he calls
• [43:56] - Bonhoeffer’s costly grace
• [45:36] - “Bought at a price” lived out
• [69:58] - The world around, the cross before
• [70:22] - Fall in love; it decides everything

1. According to the sermon, what specific actions or attitudes does “do no harm” include (e.g., uncharitable talk, contempt for leaders)? [36:22]
2. What two categories of “doing good” are described (e.g., feeding the hungry, denying oneself daily)? [39:11]
3. How does Bishop Rueben Job expand the idea of “do no harm” beyond physical actions? [37:43]
4. What four practices are named as essential for “staying in love with God”? [41:29]

1. Why might John Wesley have ordered the General Rules as “do no harm, do good, stay in love with God” instead of starting with loving God first? What does this imply about how faith works in daily life?
2. Jesus says His mission brings division even in families (Matthew 10:34-39). How does this align with the call to “do no harm” and promote healing in relationships?
3. The phrase “you were bought with a price” (1 Corinthians 6:20) is tied to “costly grace.” How does recognizing this “price” reshape our understanding of discipleship as more than just avoiding harm or doing good?

1. “Do no harm” includes guarding harmful speech or silence. What is one habit of speech (e.g., gossip, sarcasm) or silence (e.g., withholding encouragement) you need to address this week? [36:37]
2. The sermon emphasizes neighbors as real people: the unhoused, co-workers, or someone in your pew. Who is one specific “neighbor” you’ve overlooked, and what tangible good could you do for them in the next seven days? [39:48]
3. Staying in love with God requires practices like prayer and Scripture. Which of these feels most neglected in your life? What small step (e.g., 5 minutes of prayer daily, reading one Psalm) could you take to reconnect? [41:42]
4. “You were bought with a price” means discipleship isn’t cheap. What is one area where you’ve been tempted to take shortcuts in following Jesus (e.g., avoiding hard conversations, resisting generosity)? How might you lean into the “cost” this month? [45:11]
5. The hymn revision suggests “the world around, the cross before.” What is one way your choices this week could reflect Jesus’ love for the world instead of just personal comfort? [01:09:58]