Counting the Cost

Luke 14:25–27 ESV

25 Now great crowds accompanied him, and he turned and said to them, 26 “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. 27 Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple.

Luke 14:25-

Luke 14:28–30 ESV

28 For which of you, desiring to build a tower, does not first sit down and count the cost, whether he has enough to complete it? 29 Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who see it begin to mock him, 30 saying, ‘This man began to build and was not able to finish.’

Luke 14:28-

Luke 14:31-

Luke 14:31–33 ESV

31 Or what king, going out to encounter another king in war, will not sit down first and deliberate whether he is able with ten thousand to meet him who comes against him with twenty thousand? 32 And if not, while the other is yet a great way off, he sends a delegation and asks for terms of peace. 33 So therefore, any one of you who does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple.

Jesus requires superior love

Luke 14:26 ESV

26 “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.

Luke 14:26-

Jesus doesn’t compete for your love.

You either love him above all or you do not love him at all.

Jesus requires exclusive loyalty

Luke 14:27 ESV

27 Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple.

Luke 14:27-

Would you be willing to die for Christ?

He was willing to die for you.

Jesus requires total loss

Luke 14:33 ESV

33 So therefore, any one of you who does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple.

Luke 14:

Idolatry is not necessarily having a religious experience with a material object like in ancient times.

If you cannot surrender a certain possession that you feel you can’t live without, you are committing idolatry.

Idolatry is loving items more than you love Christ.

Why would I want to pay that cost?

Jesus is supremely loving

John 15:13 ESV

13 Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends.

John

Romans 5:6–8 ESV

6 For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. 7 For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die— 8 but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

Romans 5:6–8 ESV

6 For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. 7 For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die— 8 but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

Romans 5:6

Jesus will continue to love you even when you forget to love him.

Jesus is supremely loyal

Romans 5:6–8 ESV

6 For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. 7 For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die— 8 but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

Philippians 2:5–8 ESV

5 Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, 6 who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. 8 And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.

Jesus is so loyal that he did for us what we were incapable of doing ourselves.

Jesus is supremely satisfying

Jesus is supremely satisfying

Philippians 2:5-

Matthew 13:

Matthew 13:44 ESV

44 “The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and covered up. Then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.

When the beauty of Christ is in full view, nothing looks more valuable or more desirable.