Considering the Cost

Do we have what it Cost? Are we willing to pay it?

Today with inflation we find ourselves considering the cost of things on a daily basis. The weekly price of groceries keeps going up, gas is thankfully on its way back down. However home heating oil is beginning to creep up again, forcing those who heat their homes this way to consider the cost. It doesn’t matter what it is we are buying, there are two questions we answer when considering the cost. 1 Do we have enough to pay for it? 2 Are we willing to put down the price to pay for it?

In today’s scripture reading Jesus challenges would be followers to consider the cost. Are they willing to pay the price?

The communion table is a reminder of the price Christ paid for us on the cross. As we come to the table today lets remember the cost Christ paid, and examine ourselves if there’s any cost we need to leave at the altar.

As a church and individually we must consider two questions. Do we have enough to pay? Are we willing to pay it? To truly follow Christ demands everything.

Matthew 16:24–27 NLT

24 Then Jesus said to his disciples, “If any of you wants to be my follower, you must give up your own way, take up your cross, and follow me. 25 If you try to hang on to your life, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for my sake, you will save it. 26 And what do you benefit if you gain the whole world but lose your own soul? Is anything worth more than your soul? 27 For the Son of Man will come with his angels in the glory of his Father and will judge all people according to their deeds.

Jesus calls followers to Consider the Cost.

Jesus teaching on the cost of discipleship comes after dinner at the house of a Pharisee. The parable of the great feast is the backdrop of large crowds following Jesus.

Jesus had an interesting way of what we would call evangelism. He didn’t sugar coat to anyone what it truly meant to follow him. He was very clear about what it cost. His life, death and resurrection is the ultimate example for us of what it cost.

Luke for Everyone The Cost of Discipleship (Luke 14:25–35)

Imagine a politician standing on a soap-box addressing a crowd. ‘If you’re going to vote for me,’ he says, ‘you’re voting to lose your homes and families; you’re asking for higher taxes and lower wages; you’re deciding in favour of losing all you love best! So come on—who’s on my side?’

Jesus in his teaching uses exageration to prove a point. He calls people to hate their family, even their own life in order to follow him. Jesus isn’t speaking literally here. He is using these strong words to illustrate in order to follow him we must be willing to give up all that we have, all that we are, and all that we want. To be his disciple means we surrender all.

Jesus uses a few examples to also illustrate the point he is trying to make.

Carrying your cross

-public execution

-In order to follow Christ we must follow him to the cross.

Galatians 2:20 NLT

20 My old self has been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. So I live in this earthly body by trusting in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.

Luke reminds us we must deny ourselves and take up our cross daily.

Luke 9:23–25 NLT

23 Then he said to the crowd, “If any of you wants to be my follower, you must give up your own way, take up your cross daily, and follow me. 24 If you try to hang on to your life, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for my sake, you will save it. 25 And what do you benefit if you gain the whole world but are yourself lost or destroyed?

Jesus then invites the crowd to consider the two questions we have to consider today. He calls them to consider the cost. Do you have enough to pay for it? Are you willing to pay the price?

Example of a building project

Temple was in the middle of a long building project at the time.

Unfinished Church bermuda

Example of Going to war

Jerusalem would one day be under siege by the Romans. The temple would be destroyed.

If you don’t have enough look for ways to peace.

To truly follow Christ means giving up everything.

Since Jesus just finished having dinner with some pharisees, there must have been some who were in this crowd. The hardest thing for the pharisees and religious leadrs to give up was what they were comfortable with. That is the temple and the way things were and are done.

The call of Jesus to follow him calls us out of our comfort zones, and embrace the discomfort of the cross.

As we consider the cost lets answer our two questions. Do we have enough? The answer is yes by the grace of God. Are we willing to pay the price?

The Cost

Wrestling with this passage this week, the illustration of a building project is what jumped off the page. I couldn’t help but remember the sight of the unfinished church Heather and I visited in Bermuda. The church is not a building but people. The question from this that I began wrestling with is this. What cost have we not surrendered to continue the work of building the church?

As we come to the table today lets remember the cost Christ paid, and examine ourselves if there is anything we need to surrender to God.