The Million Pound Challenge
Hopefully you are aware, from last week’s Westwood Message, of the Million Pound Challenge, which is sponsored by The Princeton Club. It helps out the food pantries of Southern Wisconsin.
Last week, I included the following information about the Million Pound Challenger: Between now and May 31, for every pound of weight you lose, The Princeton Club and other corporate sponsors will purchase 10 pounds of food for the Second Harvest Foodbank of Southern Wisconsin – up to 1 million pounds of food. You can even select which local food pantry will receive your food – which means you can select Westwood’s Food Pantry.
There is also another way that you can support our Food Pantry through the Challenge: If you don’t need to lose weight, but would like to exercise, you can also participate. For every hour that you exercise, 10 pounds of food will be donated. You do not need to exercise at the Princeton Club, but can do so wherever you choose. You just need to report your exercise time on the web site. Everything is all done on the honor system. If you already exercise, this would be a great way to put your exercise to another use.
If interested in participating, you can sign up at www.princetonclub.net/mpc. You can also make financial contributions at the web site.
It Will Cost You to Meet Jesus
Jesus did not meet people just so he would know them and they would know him. Every time Jesus met a person, there was a purpose behind it. With that purpose, comes a cost. Jesus was not shy about discussing the cost of following him with those he encountered. The cost is the same for us as it was for the people Jesus met during this three-year ministry.
Jesus discusses the cost of meeting and following him in multiple places in the Gospels. One of those places is Matthew 8:18-22. The passage is the story of two would-be followers of Christ.
1. The first of the two immediately promises Jesus he will follow him anywhere, only to have Jesus explain to him the cost of following him. He was too quick to promise.
2. The second person told Jesus he needed to first go home to bury his father. Jesus told him he could not put off following him. He was too slow to perform.
The story of these two men appears in Matthew’s Gospel in a place you would not expect it. It comes in the middle of a section documenting the authority of Jesus over various kinds of sickness, nature, and demons. Matthew wants to show us that the same Jesus, who has authority over sickness, nature, and demons, also has authority over the lives of his disciples. Jesus determines what following him will involve, not us. Therefore, if you are going to follow Jesus, it must be on his terms rather than your own.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer called the failure to follow Jesus on his terms “cheap grace.” He said, “Cheap grace is the preaching of forgiveness without requiring repentance, baptism without church discipline, communion without confession, absolution without personal confession. Cheap grace is grace without discipleship, grace without the cross, grace without Jesus Christ living and incarnate.”
The contrast is “costly grace.” He said, “Costly grace is the treasure hidden in the field; for the sake of it a man will gladly go and sell all that he has. It is the pearl of great price, to buy which the merchant will sell all his goods. It is the kingly rule of Christ, for whose sake a man will pluck out the eye which causes him to stumble; it is the call of Jesus Christ at which the disciple leaves his nets and follows him. ...Such grace is costly because it calls us to follow, and it is grace because it calls us to follow Jesus Christ.”
When Jesus meets us, he makes radical demands on our lives, places us under his unique authority, and establishes for us the priorities of true discipleship. As we continue to examine the lives of people who met Jesus and meet him again for ourselves, I hope we will also rediscover the cost of following Jesus.
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