The cost of being a follower

So England is out of the World Cup. I must admit I am not an ardent football follower but even I felt that wave of disappointment as it became obvious that after all the excitement and optimism that football wasn’t coming home after all. What i have been fascinated by, however, is the lengths that some of the fans will go to follow the England team; following the World Cup on site doesn’t come cheap, but thousands flocked out to watch the games in Russia.

Recently I came across a rather amusing if slightly disturbing survey in the Metro newspaper in which people had been asked what lengths they would go to follow the England team if they made it to the final. According to the research, more than a third would call in sick if England got to the final and there was an opportunity to get a ticket. Almost one in six would be prepared to miss a friend’s wedding, while six per cent would skip their own wedding or resign from their job. Less dramatically, fourteen per cent said that cancelling a holiday would be a no-brainer, while rather sadly five per cent of respondents said they would be willing to sell their dog to for a chance at a ticket. Being a follower comes at a cost!

Now I don’t want to stretch the analogy too far but being a follower of God also comes at a cost. Last week I found myself preaching on two very relevant scriptures; Mark 16: 4-26 which tells the familiar story of how Herod’s wife used her daughter’s wiles to manipulate King Herod into beheading John the Baptist, and 2 Samuel 6 which tells how King David lost the respect of his wife Michal – daughter of Saul - as he joyfully and triumphantly danced the ark of covenant in through the gates of Jerusalem (When the ark came home!).

The Ultimate Price

Mark 16 tells the story of how John the Baptist paid the ultimate price for holding up a mirror to the wrongs of society. As a powerful man Herod Antipas believed that he was above the law. And after divorcing his wife Phasaelis, had married Herodias, the wife of his half-brother Philip – a woman who was also his niece. This was in direct contradiction of the Mosaic Law against incest laid down in Leviticus. John knew that Herod was setting an example as a leader that might well undermine other’s commitment to the rules for living laid down by God in the Torah – and that as such he had to challenge Herod, no matter how powerful he was, or what the cost may be.

The great theologian Walter Bruggeman once said that to be prophetic means being willing to take risks and to able and willing to point out the difference between the established order of the day and the value of God’s kingdom. This is exactly what John was doing here; pointing out that the way in which Herod was living and ordering his Kingdom was in direct contradiction to the Kingdom of God which Jesus was describing in such radical terms. And for this, and for following God faithfully, he paid the ultimate price - of his life.

This of course was over 2,000 years ago now, but the reality is that people are still paying the price today. Today there is a charity called Open Doors which runs a World Watch list of those countries in which it is most dangerous to follow Christ. And according to their 2018 survey, approximately 215 million Christians still experience high or very high levels of persecution and 1 in 12 Christians still live in places where Christianity is illegal, forbidden or punished. And many still pay the ultimate price for their beliefs.

Perhaps one of the most famous modern day examples is the German pastor and theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer. Bonhoeffer was known for his staunch resistance to the Nazi dictatorship and was a vocal opposition of the persecution of the Jews. He was arrested in 1943 by the Gestapo and sent to Tegel prison before being transferred to a Nazi concentration camp and, in April 1945, he was executed just as the Nazi regime collapsed. Before he died he wrote an incredible book entitled the Cost of Discipleship.

In the 21st century UK, we are very blessed to live in a country where we can generally follow Christ and share our faith without any threat to life or limb. But just because we worship in the established church of the state, it doesn’t mean that following Christ is completely cost free?

Sticks and Stones

In 2 Samuel, we are told how after making Jerusalem his capital, David brought the sacred Ark of the covenant, the ancient symbol of Jehovah’s presence, to the mount Moriah, to a tent that proceeded the temple. On that day, David was so joyful that, stripping himself of his royal robes, he “danced before the Lord with all his might.” As he entered Jerusalem, his wife Michal was watching from an upstairs window, and seeing her husband David leaping and dancing before the Lord, she “despised him in her heart.” And when David returns to his household she greeted him with biting sarcasm, saying “How glorious was the king of Israel to day,’ Michal had loved David and had in the past risked her life for his safety, but on that day she despised and ridiculed him for his loss of royal dignity in such an excitable demonstration of faith.

The other day I saw a Facebook post from a friend of mine who is an exuberant vicar of a central London church, who wears her dog collar with holy pride. In her Facebook post she said that on a beautiful summer’s morning she had been walking down the street to her church with real spring in her step and a smile on her face, when a group of young men she passed fell about laughing – pointing at her dog collar – and ridiculing her.

Now this experience doesn’t match up to the persecution of Christians in places like North Korea, or the terrible price paid by Dietrich Bonhoeffer, but I am sure it still hurt and smarted. I don’t’ know if you know that old playground saying ‘sticks and stones may break your bones, but words will never hurt me’, but anybody that has been ridiculed would tell you that it just isn’t’ true. And the reality is that there are those who will mock our beliefs.

Any of you who have come up against an ardent atheist in an argument will know that it isn’t a comfortable experience and in the workplace today it can also be quite difficult to be a Christian. I know when I ‘came out’ as a Christian when I worked in the media, I was labelled as ‘down right odd’ and probably lacking the critical faculties needed to be a serious journalist. But like David we need to be willing to stand up for our beliefs and our choice to follow God.

When Michal ridiculed him – how did David respond? Did he decide to hide his beliefs in future, to make sure he said his prayers quietly in private and not to make too much of a fuss about all this God stuff in future in case he invited further ridicule? No, he told his wife that it was the Lord who appointed him, that he would celebrate before the Lord and if necessary would become even more undignified!

Now I am not suggesting that anyone here starts disrobing and dancing around the streets with a tambourine, lyre or vuvuzela (even if we did see plenty of this sort of behaviour before we dropped out of the World Cup). But what I am suggesting is that we need to face up to and be willing to embrace the cost of following Christ.

Yes, some of our friends who don’t come to church may think that we are a bit soft in the head, believing in someone we cannot see.

Yes, we may come across some ardent atheists who seem to feel that ridiculing our beliefs somehow lends credence to their own.

But we also need to remember the courage of a great thinker like Dietrich Bonhoeffer, who was so utterly convinced of God’s love for him that he was willing to stand up to horrific power of one such as Adolf Hitler and to pay the ultimate price for standing up for what he believed in, for standing up for the values of God’s kingdom.

And in our own small way, we too need to take the risk of standing up for our beliefs. Because we too have been appointed as disciples, and that means being sure of what we believe. In the words of 1 Peter, always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks us to give the reason for the hope that we have - and never, ever, to be ashamed of following Christ.

Kate Nicholas is a Christian author, broadcaster and preacher. Her best-selling memoir Sea Changed and its Companion Guide – Living a Transformed Life are available in Christian book stores and Waterstones throughout the UK. Her TV series Living a Transformed Life can be seen on premiere Christian channel TBN UK (Freeview 65 and Sky 582) at 9.00 p.m GMT on Sundays, with repeats on Mondays 11.30 a.m, Wednesday 3.00 p.m. and Sundays 2.00 am, and is free on demand at www.tbnuk.org .