Counting the Cost

Nehemiah  •  Sermon  •  Submitted   •  Presented   •  48:24
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This last year, many Americans did some major project or another on their home. While folks were staying home more, they found that they had an increased incentive to either improve their outside spaces or their home offices, among others. But of course, whenever you take on a major project, you need to determine if you can afford to finish it.
The same is true for your calling.
Whenever we get excited about something we feel the Lord is leading us to accomplish for the Kingdom work of restoration, it’s important that we assess whether we’re prepared to follow through on what we begin. Imagine that you start serving soup to the homeless, only to find that you weren’t prepared for the time or financial investment to continue it. Now, these folks have come to depend on your help, only to see it vanish as quickly as it appeared.
In the same way, teaching a class or hosting a study, only to abandon it when the schedule gets hectic or when someone there makes you uncomfortable, is a sure pathway to hurting others and yourself. No one feels good when they are let down, and no one feels good letting others down.
In the Gospel of Luke, Jesus tells his disciples that they cannot follow him if they are not willing to give up everything. Jesus says they need to hate their father and mother. They need to hate their wife and children. Even their brothers and sisters. Then, he says they must hate their own life or they cannot be his disciple.
Many of you here to day have been in the church a long time, and when you read this passage or even as you hear me talk about it now, you are probably already doing some theological calculus in your head. It’s amazing how quickly we can convert Jesus’ words into something more palatable.
“Jesus is being hyperbolic. He doesn’t actually mean you need to hate your family and yourself.”
“Jesus means that you have to love him so much that, in comparison, its like you hate everyone else.”
These internal responses may help us get to an accurate understanding of what Jesus means, with some minor adjustments. But they hurt us in regards to getting to the emotional point of what Jesus is trying to convey. Jesus meant to shock and disturb his audience. In fact, for those listening to him in that moment, following Jesus would have absolutely risked the possibility of losing their father, mother, wife, children, or siblings. It more akin to Muslims choosing to follow Jesus while still living in an Islamic country than anything we can imagine taking place in the United States today.
And while most of us may not need to choose Jesus at the expense of relationship with our families, some of you do know the very real cost of living as the only Christian in your home. You know how difficult it is to explain the time you spend at church and with other believers. You have an all to familiar understanding of the difficulty or making financial decisions with God and the Church in mind. Some of you may even know the sadness and pain of being ridiculed for your beliefs by someone that you care about. There is a big cost to following Jesus.
When we too quickly resolve the tension of Jesus’ statement to something like “I need to put Jesus first in my life” without actually contending with the pain, hardship, and temptations that will bring we set ourselves up for failure. Why? Because we have not, at that point, actually counted the cost of being his disciple. Today, we need to honestly assess the cost. Once we do so, we can weigh that cost against the benefit, or the gain that we receive by following Jesus. Then, and only then, can we decide with some clarity whether we beleive it’s worth the cost. If we decide that it is, then we’ll be more likely to stand firm when the challenges come, because we’ve already decided that those challenges do not change the equation. We already know that those things are worth bearing for the sake of following Jesus.

Perseverance & Hard Work

Counting the cost was not a new experience for God’s people when Jesus came on the scene. As you look at the history of Israel and the Jewish people, one thing you notice is that life was often difficult for those who were faithful to the Lord. Outsiders were constantly trying to draw the people’s worship away from God, whether to other gods or even to men, like in the story of Daniel who refused to bow down to Nebuchadnezzar. Those who couldn’t be swayed were sometimes threatened with death or subjugation. That was the story for Nehemiah and the faithful remnant in Israel. The entire reason for rebuilding the walls around Jerusalem was to protect the people from other nations and people who could attack at any moment. And as we know today, there has been in most of the world’s history, an irrational hatred for the Jewish people. The people needed to work hard and fast to avoid the danger of invasion.
Summarize chapter 3 and read Nehemiah 4:1-9.
The reality for the citizens of Jerusalem was that angry and powerful men wanted to keep Jerusalem weak and defenseless. They were will to go to stop those walls from being completed. And the truth is, there are powerful men, women, and spirits who want to keep you weak and defenseless, as well. Do you know that you have a real enemy who wants to sabotage every good plan or work that the Lord calls you to?
I remember earlier in my life reading the Psalms and finding them quite unrelatable. I would read about David’s enemies who wanted to kill him or some moment where he felt like he was going to die. I didn’t have any enemies. I’ve never felt like I was going to die. But as I’ve lived longer, I can see more clearly that I do have enemies. I have enemies who hate my guts and want nothing more than to see my life destroyed. They would literally kill me if they ever got the chance.
I don’t know about you, but I don’t like that. In fact, I’m personally offended that even Satan would hate me. What have I ever done to him? But sometimes, we’re hated simply because of what we stand for, who we represent, and the for the mere fact that we are alive in Christ instead of dead in our sin!
And like Nehemiah, my enemy is constantly trying to drag me out into the open to either distract me from my true work or expose me to attack. Can you relate to that? Do you understand the implications of that for your life? Are you willing to face the difficulty of standing up to that kind of hatred? It’s not only exhausting, but it’s intimidating. It’s scary. And when we try to live for Christ on our own, that kind of attack makes us feel lonely and weak. Do you ever feel lonely and weak? I know I do.
That’s when you need to count the cost.
And once done, that’s when you need to get dirty and do some hard work. Yesterday, we had a work day here at the church, and you saw some pictures of just a few of the people getting things done. It was a pretty good turn out. Mabel joked that the Nehemiah study was paying off! And it is. But the thing is that we cannot do the work set before us with just a pretty good turn out. And let me say this…I’m saying this to make anyone feel guilty who was not here yesterday. It’s not about that. The point is not that everyone shows up for a work day. That would be great, but I almost couldn’t make it because of the work I needed to do. That happens.
What I do mean is that the overall picture of the work we need to do to be a church worthy of our calling requires all hands on deck. It requires that each one of us be present. Present in our prayers for one another and our mission field. Present for one another in our need for encouragement, for sharing our burdens, and for achieving our mission to make disciples here in this region and beyond. It means being present financially for our God-given calling to this location bearing witness to God’s love and his great gospel to the citizens of Dedham, Hyde Park, Norwood, West Roxbury, Roslindale, Milton, Westwood, and others. That is not small thing!
Read Nehemiah 4:11-23
Those men and women in Jerusalem worked day and night, without rest. They came to work even when their farms needed tending. They came to work even as their herds needed watching. They came to work. It didn’t matter. Luke 14:33 says that “any of you who does not give up everything he has cannot be my disciple.”
Don’t run to the explanation. Don’t do the theological calculus. Rest in the incredible weight of that statement. If you won’t give it all, you cannot be Jesus’ disciple. If you won’t pay the price, you cannot follow him. If you aren’t willing to forsake your entire family, you won’t belong to him. As verse 27 says, “anyone who does not carry his cross and follow me cannot be my disciple.”
Those men and women in Jerusalem didn’t know Jesus. They couldn’t yet foresee the glorious goodness of the gospel. And yet, they took up their cross. They were willing to give it their all right where they were. They didn’t make excuses. But we do, don’t we. If this one thing were different, I would follow Jesus. If my husband were a Christian, I would commit more. If I were in a better job or made more money, I would give more. If I could find a group of people that thought like me and that I really loved hanging out with, I would invest myself more.
But Church, that is not how it works. More often than not, it’s the people who whole-heartedly follow Jesus without those things that find they get what the desire most. And I don’t mean their husband necessarily comes to faith (though a throughly committed disciples of Jesus in the home will increase that likelihood). I don’t mean they necessarily make a lot more money (though God seems very pleased to prosper those who are faithful with a little by giving them more). I don’t meant that faithfulness in one place means God will take you to a “better place” (though faithfulness in your the place you are will make that place better). What I mean is that those who are willing to do the hard work, despite the incredible difficulties, when find that they experience the all surpassing joy of Christ, no matter what their situation is. That is what it means to count the cost.

Facing Opposition

Internal
Complacency
Complaints
Conflict
External

Takeaway

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