Book Study: The Cost of Discipleship - Week One

Who is a Disciple?

Is it only the twelve who followed Jesus?

Does the title "Disciple" belong to all Christians?

Does it?

Who is a disciple?

I believe in Jesus. I was baptized and joined a church. Am I a disciple?

Can I, as a believer, call myself a disciple?

Or does Christ require something more from me?

Do I have to earn the title of disciple?

If I have to earn the name, what becomes of grace?

A great debate has existed in the church from earliest times: the importance of works. Does Christianity consist of faith alone, or faith plus works? Are all "believers" saved, or are all disciples saved?

Did Jesus come to earth just to offer forgiveness and salvation?

Was Jesus’ goal on earth to recruit believers or to show us a different way?

What did Jesus have to say on this subject?

(Luk 6:40 ESV) A disciple is not above his teacher, but everyone when he is fully trained will be like his teacher.

(Luk 14:26 ESV) "If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple.

(Luk 14:27 ESV) Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple.

(Luk 14:33 ESV) So therefore, any one of you who does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple.

(John 8:31 ESV) So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed in him, "If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples,..."

Some of that, we would rather not hear, or would rather find an alternate interpretation.

The Great Commission:

Mat 28:18-20 ESV
(18) And Jesus came and said to them, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.
(19) Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,
(20) teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age."

Was Jesus’ instruction to convince as many believers as possible?

What was Jesus’ instruction?

Make disciples.

How do we know if we are on the path of discipleship or just a believer?

Mat 7:15-20 ESV
(15) "Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves.
(16) You will recognize them by their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thornbushes, or figs from thistles?
(17) So, every healthy tree bears good fruit, but the diseased tree bears bad fruit.
(18) A healthy tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a diseased tree bear good fruit.
(19) Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.
(20) Thus you will recognize them by their fruits.

I believe that Jesus Christ is the Savior. I even come to Church occasionally. Am I bearing good fruit?

What will become of me?

Mat 7:21-23 ESV
(21) "Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.
(22) On that day many will say to me, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?'
(23) And then will I declare to them, 'I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.'

I do good things. How do I know if they are the will of the Father?


Mat 7:24-27 ESV
(24) "Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock.
(25) And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock.
(26) And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand.
(27) And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell, and great was the fall of it."

Jesus came to give us wise words, to tell us what to do. These are teachings that we sometimes don’t want to follow. We would many times rather follow our religion than follow Christ.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer published many works, but is best known for The Cost of Discipleship, first published in 1937. This classic study of the life of discipleship centers on the Sermon on the Mount and how the teachings of Jesus are to be viewed by the contemporary church. This book has prodded and challenged countless Christians since its publication, mainly because, like a back-handed slap, we can respond to the message of Christ in two ways: we can either strike back or we can submit to Christ’s teachings. The casual reader of Bonhoeffer either quickly loses interest or becomes a serious reader.

What do we know about Bonhoeffer?

Dietrich Bonhoeffer was born in 1906 to a large, close-knit, well educated family. He decided at the age of sixteen that wanted to be a theologian. He attended the University of Berlin and spent a year at Union Theological Seminary in New York. He was enjoying the beginning of a career teaching systematic theology in Berlin in the early 1930's.

As the Nazis rose to power, Bonhoeffer saw the threat that the Church in Germany would face. In February 1933, Bonhoeffer denounced Hilter on a radio broadcast. Soon after this Bonhoeffer accepted an invitation to pastor two German-speaking Lutheran congregations in England. Bonhoeffer spent two years at the British churches warning church leaders of the threat posed by Hitler’s toxic mixture of Christianity and Nazism.

At this time, in opposition to the Nazi-sponsored German Christian Church, a group of believers in Germany formed the illegal Confessing Church. The Confessing church rejected Hitler’s state church and affirmed Jesus Christ as the only one worthy of the church’s allegiance.

In 1935 Bonhoeffer returned to Germany to lead an underground seminary for Confessing Church pastors. The seminary was closed by the Gestapo in 1937 and twenty-seven of its students were arrested. Bonhoeffer escaped arrest at that time, but was forbidden to write or publish. In defiance of the order, he proceeded with the publication of The Cost of Discipleship.

Throughout these years Bonhoeffer held a pacifist position and stated that if war came, he would refuse to fight. His views gradually changed. Agonizing as the idea was to him, he began to see that his pacifism, although a Christian virtue, might also be detrimental to the church that he so loved. The choice to fight or not fight for his country was difficult enough, but Bonhoeffer concluded that in order for the true church in Germany to survive, he must help defeat Germany. Through his brother-in-law Hans von Dahnanyi, Bonhoeffer learned of plans to overthrow the Nazi government. Plans that included the assassination of Adolph Hitler.

In 1939, Bonhoeffer came to the United States to lecture at Union Seminary. He was greatly tempted to remain in America until the German wars ended. His conscience would not allow this. He wrote that he could not in good conscience live as a Christian in Germany after the war if he did not participate in the trials of German Christians during the war. He returned to Germany and devoted himself to the Resistance and to the Confessing Church.

Bonhoeffer was arrested on April 5, 1943. He was imprisoned at Tegel Prison in Berlin. From all accounts his warmth and unselfishness, and above all his faith, won the respect of both guards and fellow prisoners. His own writings from prison reveal much about the sort of man he was. His Nazi guards, at great risk, smuggled out all that was later compiled by his best friend Eberhard Bethge and published as Letters and Papers from Prison.

Early in his imprisonment, Bonhoeffer hoped for release. He did, after all, know of the Resistance plot to assassinate Hitler and destroy the Nazi regime. On July 20, 1944, the assassination attempt failed. Soon afterward documents were found which implicated Bonhoeffer, Hans von Dohnanyi, and others. From that time Bonhoeffer’s only hope was a quick Allied victory and the liberation of the Nazi prisons.

He was moved to the Gestapo Headquarters in Prinz-Albrecht-Strasse, Berlin and kept in a close confinement bunker. After February 1945 his family and friends on the outside lost all communication with him. They later learned of his final months.

He was moved to Buchenwald Prison. On the evening of April 3, 1945, he and fifteen other prisoners were removed from Buchenwald. From the back of the truck they were traveling in, they realized that they were headed toward Flossenburg, a death camp.

There was no room for any more prisoners at Flossenburg and the prisoners were taken to the town jail in Regensburg and soon afterwards moved to a converted school building in Schonberg. The prisoners hope rose. The Allied bombing of Berlin had begun before they had left Buchenwald and shortages of food and fuel were obvious indicators that Nazi power was crumbling.

On the Sunday after Easter, at the request of his fellow prisoners, Bonhoeffer conducted a worship service in the school building. He preached from Isaiah 53:5 and 1 Peter 1:3:

Isa 53:5 ESV
(5) But he was wounded for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his stripes we are healed.

1Pe 1:3 ESV
(3) Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,

Shortly after Bonhoeffer closed the service with a prayer, two men in civilian clothing entered. "Prisoner Bonhoeffer, get ready to come with us." As he left, Bonhoeffer spoke to British airman, Payne Best, his last recorded words: "This is the end - for me the beginning of life."

Bonhoeffer was taken to Flossenburg. At dawn on April 9 the prison doctor found Bonhoeffer kneeling in prayer in his cell. Bonhoeffer was taken outside and hanged.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer was thirty-nine.

Berlin fell to the Allies on May 2.

What will we learn from The Cost of Discipleship?

Hopefully this book will make us think more deeply about our faith and how we act in faith.

Jam 2:17-20 ESV
(17) So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.
(18) But someone will say, "You have faith and I have works." Show me your faith apart from your works, and I will show you my faith by my works.
(19) You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe--and shudder!
(20) Do you want to be shown, you foolish person, that faith apart from works is useless?

Faith is obedience to the Word. Obedience to the Word is faith.