Count the Cost (Evening)

Counting the Cost Matthew Davis Parables of Christ / Luke 14:25–33 Introduction Good morning, and welcome back to church. If you have your Bibles with you, please turn in them to Luke chapter fourteen. We will continue today through the Parables of Christ, today with the parable “Count the Cost.” Luke 14:26–27 KJV 1900 If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple. And whosoever doth not bear his cross, and come after me, cannot be my disciple. Today’s parable starts off, seemingly, a little excessive - whoever doesn’t hate his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, even his own life - cannot be a disciple of Christ. Hopefully by the end of the message, you won’t find this excessive, but will understand what it is Christ desires of us. I hope today to convey the true cost of discipleship, of being called a follower of Christ. For a good many the perceived cost is a simple profession. For Christ, the cost is complete surrender. If the time of Christ required this teaching, then so much more do we, who, live in a culture that doesn’t want to submit to authority. A culture that thrives on instant gratification, on getting things “my way,” and the concepts of entitlement. I think all Christians, whether old or new, we need to be reminded of what it is to be a Christian, and what is expected of us, of our lives, and of the price we pay. We cannot truly be a Christian until we have counted the cost of the decision and we have determined it’s a price we are willing to pay, and we commit. As we study today, we will examine the concept of counting the costs, we shall then count the cost, and we will examine the results of failure to count the cost or willingness to pay that cost. Let us begin, counting the cost, verses twenty-eight to thirty-two. Counting the Cost VV. 28-32 Luke 14:28–32 KJV 1900 For which of you, intending to build a tower, sitteth not down first, and counteth the cost, whether he have sufficient to finish it? Lest haply, after he hath laid the Exported from Logos Bible Software, 2:57 PM June 26, 2021. 1 foundation, and is not able to finish it, all that behold it begin to mock him, Saying, This man began to build, and was not able to finish. Or what king, going to make war against another king, sitteth not down first, and consulteth whether he be able with ten thousand to meet him that cometh against him with twenty thousand? Or else, while the other is yet a great way off, he sendeth an ambassage, and desireth conditions of peace. The verse begins, “for which of you,” providing the reason for the previous explanation “he cannot be my disciple.” We have, presented before us, two hypothetical situations, in which there is a cost involved to be counted. For whom of you, intending to build a tower (perhaps today, who of you intending to build a wall, or a structure, a business, whatever you intend to build) would not first sit down and count the cost? The first thing I do whenever I intend to build, whether I intend to build a roof, or a shed, or even when I began to build our churches infrastructure - I sit down and figure the cost. When I build my sheds, I sit down with a CAD and I draw it out. I figure out what my stud spacing will be, whether I will use double top plates or single, how many trusses I need, what style, how much total lumber will be needed. I figure out how many nails, screws, hinges I will need, and I try to figure extra for mistakes. I have to figure out the foundation, whether it sit’s on the ground, cinder brick, or cement. Will the roof be shingled? Rubber? Metal? Will the exterior be painted? Use vinyl? Windows? I can then assess my project, do I have enough funds to complete it? Can I complete enough of the project to protect it from the elements while it get’s finished? I have been known to postpone projects until I could get everything I needed. I have been known to cancel entire projects because the cost would be too much. But imagine, if I didn’t count the cost - I get half way through, but the project is not yet finished, it’s not far enough along to stand protected, but I cannot finish. Now the project becomes abandoned and I lost my time, money, and material on what I did. Same thing with the infrastructure for the churches. We’ve now got apps, websites, streaming capabilities, scripture overlays - That cost was counted. I had to sit down and look at the monthly expenses on these things, look at the benefit it would bring to the church, the benefit it’ll provide in discipleship, evangelism. Could the church afford it? How long is the time commitment? How long are the contracts should we decide to go the route? The structure we now have required the support of both churches, but it was figured out, and determined it could work. Imagine the other way, had we not figured it out ahead of time and just jumped both feet in, and found we could not continue. I use Logos Bible Software for my study. We are currently thousands of dollars in the resource and learning materials, but the cost was once again counted. It was determined at the times we have made purchases, mostly personally, that not only could it be afforded, but the benefit it would provide in the churches learning and growing would far outweigh the cost. My mom has made contributions in purchasing Exported from Logos Bible Software, 2:57 PM June 26, 2021. 2 some upgrades and some courses, coming to that same determination. When we undertake any major project, whether it be physical or infrastructure, or digital, do we not sit down and count out the cost? Why do we do that? Why do we bother counting the cost instead of just doing? Christ answers, He says, “lest after you laid the foundation, you are not able to finish it.” Christ tells of the king, he counts the cost before he sends his men to war. Can they win the war, ten thousand men to twenty thousand? Perhaps some could, perhaps other armies couldn’t. Will the war be worth the expense, both monetarily and bodily? The king does not send men out willy nilly, but is calculated in the decision. How about The King, our Lord and God? He calculated the price of our salvation, that we may enter in unto Him. He calculated and knew what it would cost, that it would cost His life, His blood, that He would take on shame, and cruel, inhumane torture, so that we would be spared. It is, therefore, critical that we count the cost of discipleship. What will it cost us to follow Christ? Allow us to continue with verses twenty-six and twenty-seven. The Cost V. 26-27 Luke 14:26–27 KJV 1900 If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple. And whosoever doth not bear his cross, and come after me, cannot be my disciple. The cost? If any man were to go after Jesus, and what? Not hate his father, or his mother, or his wife and children, his siblings, and to intensify the statement, even himself! If not, then you cannot indeed be the disciple of Christ. So what does Christ mean? Can Christ be telling us to hate our parents, or spouse/children, and our neighbors after spending so much time telling us to love one another? How about the command to honor thy father and thy mother? What we have here is not a command to ‘hate,’ in the way we understand the word. Rather, the expression is a idiom, a dichotomy, which means to love less. Anyone who goes to Jesus and loves their father, or mother, or wife and children, or siblings, or even himelf MORE than he loves Christ, he cannot be His disciple. Being a follower of Christ means loving Him above all other things, this is first and foremost in the requirement. Christ above all else. Christ continues, whosoever doth not pick up His cross, and come after me, cannot be my disciple. In this section, I intend to broadly cover, however, the list is not exhaustive, what it Exported from Logos Bible Software, 2:57 PM June 26, 2021. 3 costs to be a follower of Christ. Self Denial Matthew 16:24 KJV 1900 Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me. The high cost of discipleship is that we would deny ourselves. The verb for deny means to “utterly deny,” and is used the same in the instance where Peter denied Christ three times before He was crucified. The command is not to the extreme, that we must deny all things to ourselves, but that, as a follower of Christ, we must be ready and willing to part with anything that is in competition with Christ, His work, and His Kingdom. If there is something in our life that is so important that it comes before the things Christ has asked us to do, then we must part with it or re-prioritize it in our lives so that it comes after Christ. As followers of Christ, each of us will struggle in this area, but we must be aware of the commitment that is asked of each of us. We cannot be for Christ unless we are fully committed to Christ. To take up your cross, foreshadowing the future death of Christ, takes an ominous meaning. Criminals who were crucified typically had to carry the top beam of their cross through angry mobs, suffering mockery and chiding to the execution cite. Christ also anticipated the majority of the disciples He spoke with ending their life in execution as well. For the Christian today, most of us will not follow Christ in the sense of being martyred for our identification, but we will be mocked, called names, hated upon, and persecuted. It is, in the literal sense, to pick up our beam and march onward toward our execution, if that is what the world stores for us. The fact that follow me comes after take up your cross is, in the context, then no surprise. From the moment we surrender to Christ, we deny ourselves and forfeit our lives to the Lord. When we declare Jesus as Lord, that is, in the literal meaning, what we are doing. We are surrendering to Him. We are ready to pick up our beam, our cross, and march onward at His command. Matthew 10:38 KJV 1900 And he that taketh not his cross, and followeth after me, is not worthy of me. Christ emphasis in chapter ten here the importance of picking up our cross and following after Christ. Such a person, who doeth not this thing, he is not worthy of Christ. That is not to say that anyone is worthy of Christ, but the one who refuses in this aspect is not worthy and will not receive of Him. We must be willing to give ourselves over to Him. Exported from Logos Bible Software, 2:57 PM June 26, 2021. 4 Romans 14:7 KJV 1900 For none of us liveth to himself, and no man dieth to himself. In the simplest of terms, whether we live, or we die, we belong to the Lord. We ought to live our life in a manner that is consistent with that belief. It is rather difficult to proclaim ones self a disciple of Christ yet to live inconsistently with His desires, or to live in fear of death. For regardless of our dwelling place, be that on earth, or in heaven, we live to serve Him. Galatians 2:20 KJV 1900 I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me. Paul more appropriately describes the aspect of denying ourselves for Christ - We are, as it were, crucified with Christ. When we become a follower, when we give ourselves over to God, we crucify, in a manner of speaking, our bodies, and yet we live. However, the new life, reborn of the Spirit from above, is a life in which it is Christ that liveth through us. In such, the life we ought to live ought to be Christs, and consistent with what we know of His living, His love, and His actions, for it is He who lives in us and whom we represent. 1 Peter 4:2 KJV 1900 That he no longer should live the rest of his time in the flesh to the lusts of men, but to the will of God. Perhaps one of the more difficult aspects of being a disciple, is the giving up of sin. We all know it, we discussed it last week. Sin is extremely desirable to mankind. We enjoy doing the things of which the flesh lusts after, but we also know it to be wrong. A follower of Christ should put away the sin, and live, not in the flesh to the lusts of men, not to what our deceitful hearts desire to do, but to the will of the Lord. Not only shall we deny ourselves, and pick up our cross, but the surrender must be complete. It must be total surrender to the Lord. Total Surrender Luke 14:33 KJV 1900 So likewise, whosoever he be of you that forsaketh not all that he hath, he cannot be my disciple. What does total surrender look like? It looks like this, being willing, if it need be for the Exported from Logos Bible Software, 2:57 PM June 26, 2021. 5 sake of Christ, to forsake all that we have. Total surrender is complete surrender of yourself, physically, emotionally, mentally, and spiritually. We surrender all that we have and we are content with the Lord. We need not get rid of all that we have, that is not the teaching here. Rather, the teaching is that, shall it be required of us, we will give up what we have for our commitment to Christ. There is nothing we have - No house, no car, no technology, no friends/family, no toys, boats, no job etc, that is so valuable as to put it before the Lord. Philippians 3:7–8 KJV 1900 But what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ. Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ, Paul in Philippians tells of his earthly gains, he says, “those I counted loss for Christ.” Paul appraised his previous life, and he appraised all that he had gained, and he valued it as worthless compared to the “excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord.” Paul attitude is one we should closely pay attention to and imitate. Though Paul says, “these gains I have counted as loss,” he also says, “I am not negative about that appraisal, but it is the correct appraisal and I happily give up my former things that I may win Christ.” We should be of cheer to count all we have as loss, for the gaining of Christ is invaluable. It was Christ who said, “where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.” We must maintain that our treasure is in Heaven, and we must be willing to count all earthly, all perishable treasures, as loss. Christ Receives First Priority Colossians 1:18 KJV 1900 And he is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he might have the preeminence. That in all things he might have the preeminence - When serving the Lord, we can often get caught up in our daily lives. Soccer, work, kids, date night, chores, landscaping, more work, school and on and on our days go. We can often get so busy that it becomes difficult to keep up on obligations, to be places we want/need to be, or to lend a helping hand to others. It’s dangerous, because we often become so busy we are not serving the Kingdom of God the way we’re supposed to. How many of you know what BUSY stands for? It means, “being under satans yoke.” He wants you busy, because when you are busy, you forsake the Kingdom of God. We must be ready, as followers of Christ, to put Christ before all things. It’s often easy to put off church and discipleship for work, but Christ should be preeminent in your life. Exported from Logos Bible Software, 2:57 PM June 26, 2021. 6 It’s easy to say “I’m too tired,” but Christ should take priority. It’s easy to pass the car, broken down because “someone else will stop,” but they are your neighbor. It’s all too easy to not share the gospel, because you might get mocked, or your nervous and don’t know what to say, but we should have no shame in Christ. For some, it’s easy to say “I’m going fishing today,” and forsake the assembly. There’s a funny story I once heard, of a man who told his pastor he was sick and wouldn’t make it to church. The truth was, he wanted to go fishing, and he was too embarrassed to tell the pastor the real reason he wasn’t coming in. That guy says it was the worst fishing experience he has ever had, because he caught his biggest fish, and couldn’t show anyone without getting caught in the lie. The truth of the matter is, it was the worst fishing experience because the fishing had preeminence in his life over Christ. We must be willing, as Christians, to put Christ above all other things. Christ, God, along receives first priority, after which all other things may come, in their proper order. Discipleship Includes Persecution John 15:20 KJV 1900 Remember the word that I said unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord. If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you; if they have kept my saying, they will keep yours also. Acts 14:22 KJV 1900 Confirming the souls of the disciples, and exhorting them to continue in the faith, and that we must through much tribulation enter into the kingdom of God. Among the difficult things a Christian may face, persecution tops the list. Did you know, even in the US, Christians are widely persecuted? Perhaps, I would even say Christians are the most persecuted groups of people in the world, including the US. On the east coast, there was a fire chief who was fired over writing a book for his church bible study that spoke out against homosexuality. He wasn’t pushing the issue at the department, or upon the public, but because he held the view in his church, he was fired as the chief. We are all familiar with the persecution the Christian baker received in Colorado. Across the country, from the West Coast, to the East, youth are persecuted in school, receiving suspension for praying, reading the Bible, wearing crosses, masks that say “I love Jesus,” or “Jesus loves me.” Workplaces, government entities, and schools are prohibiting “religious and political speech” on campuses, however, are still subjecting everyone to LGBTQ, BLM, and other extreme left propaganda. The reality is, it’s not that political speech is being prohibited, it’s that Christian speech is being prohibited. Exported from Logos Bible Software, 2:57 PM June 26, 2021. 7 In malls throughout the country, gunmen have lined people up, shooting and killing those who profess to be Christians. Throughout North America, both in the US and Canada, pastors have been arrested for holding services, meanwhile, congregants, even worshipping in the vehicles have received five hundred dollar citations just for going to church. Persecution is very much alive in the US. In other countries throughout the world, owning a bible is punishable by death. Proselyting, opening discussing Christ, or even listening to Christian music can have you killed. Throughout the middle east, Christians endure imprisonment, beheading, and being burned alive. Such is the cost of being a follower of Christ. “If they have persecuted me, they will persecute you.” Christ also says, of when they hate us, “they first hated me.” We must be willing, even in the face of persecution, even to the extent of death, to keep our faith and public profession of Christ. John 12:25 KJV 1900 He that loveth his life shall lose it; and he that hateth his life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal. Understanding, as I have once spoken today, the list is not exhaustive, but you should understand the intention behind Christs words and what it means to be His disciple. Above this, I have one more to add. The Cost is Constant Luke 9:23 KJV 1900 And he said to them all, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me. The cost is a daily cost - We pick up our cross, and we follow after Christ daily. The true disciple of Christ endures to the end, until he has finished the race and God brings him home. We wake up, day after day, and live for Christ. We go to bed, night after night, and rest for Christ. Each day, we willingly endure the persecutions, deny ourselves, put Christ above all other things, and, if the time comes, pick up our cross beam and march to our execution. The Risks of Not VV. 33-35 Luke 14:33–35 KJV 1900 So likewise, whosoever he be of you that forsaketh not all that he hath, he cannot be my disciple. Salt is good: but if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be Exported from Logos Bible Software, 2:57 PM June 26, 2021. 8 seasoned? It is neither fit for the land, nor yet for the dunghill; but men cast it out. He that hath ears to hear, let him hear. We cannot talk about the cost of discipleship without mentioning the cost of failure to be a disciple of Christ. Christ says, “whosoever he be of you that forsaketh not all that he hath, he cannot be my disciple.” If we are not willing to love Christ above all else. If we cannot put Christ above all else, if we are not willing to make all sacrifices for the Lord. If we cannot profess Christ because we want to save our lives, then we cannot be His disciple. So having discussed the cost of discipleship, let’s briefly go over the cost of NOT being a disciple. What will that cost us? It will cost us the forgiving love of God the Father - the forgiving love that is extended only to those whose identify is found in the Lord. Christ taught that it is he who confesses Him to be Lord before man that He will confess before the Father. It is he who has faith in the Lord that will be saved. But if we deny Christ so that we may save our life, than He shall deny us before the Father. On the same token, it will cost us the saving power of Christ the Son - God sent His Son to die, that all that believe in Him would be saved. The scriptures teach that all who call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. Failure to take upon yourself His name, however, denies the saving power of His death and resurrection. You are denied the comforting presence of the Holy Spirit - The Holy Comforter, which has been sent to all whom believed upon the Only Begotten is not given to those who reject. The Comforter, who not only provides comfort, but counsel, wisdom, and companionship to the followers of Christ. It costs the assurances of God’s Holy Word - There are promises in the Bible, both good and bad, however, the blessed assurances in the Word are lost to those who are not the disciples of Christ. Promises of eternal life. It will cost the hope of seeing and being with Jesus. Surely, every knee will bow and every tongue confess, however, for those who die without belief, that day is not a hopeful day, but a dreadful day. Believers long for the day we shall be united with the Savior, the day when we will be eternally in His physical presence. And it will cost the glories and rewards of His everlasting Kingdom - The disciples of Christ are promised eternal life in the Kingdom of God. We are promised every tear shall be wiped from our eyes, and we shall spend the rest of our eternal existence filled with joy and worship. The unbelieving is promised an eternity in the lake of fire, with weepings and gnashing of teeth. They are promised, what is called the second death, eternally. Exported from Logos Bible Software, 2:57 PM June 26, 2021. 9 Summary When you sit down and weight the cost, you should also weight the cost of not going forth as a disciple. As a believer, you should know what is expected, and you should also be prepared to joyful give of all that you are and have for the sake and glory of Christ. The believer in Christ loves Him above all other people and things, including himself. The believer is ready to pick up his cross, daily, perpetually, and march forth towards the kingdom of God. We are ready to give all, including ourselves for the mission, professing Christ to the death. Christ taught: Matthew 10:38 KJV 1900 And he that taketh not his cross, and followeth after me, is not worthy of me. Invitation So can you afford it, to not be a disciple of Christ? ***go into invitation*** Exported from Logos Bible Software, 2:57 PM June 26, 2021. 10