Counting the Cost

Luke 14:25-34

Jesus did not pander to people so that they would become his followers. He knew that while the love of God is there for everybody, only few will pay the price of ministry. This is one of the great fallacies of the church in our generation. We court people and try to convince them that we are the ones who offer more of what they want. The result is that we make more consumers than we do disciples. Jesus does not say, “Go and make customers of all nations,” but that is what we have done. Jesus does not minimize the demand of what it will take to be his disciple. Instead, he offers them something terrific (life in a whole new dimension) and a reason to give the rest of your life away (the kingdom of God). It is an appeal closer to the Peace Corps (“the toughest job you’ll ever love”) than Burger King (“Have it your way…”). Consumers choose what parts of the Jesus and the gospel they want to accept and ignore the rest. Disciples allow Jesus and the gospel to be the primary force that helps them make choices that are godly in the rest of their lives. Which are you, a consumer or a disciple? Which am I?

The day I gave my life to ministry was in September of 1975. Kathryn Kuhlman was the preacher. What an odd lady, but that day she had a message I could not ignore, “Who Will Pay the Price to Fully Follow Jesus?” Of the 4,000 students gathered there, more than 1,000 went forward to do just that. I couldn’t have stayed in my seat if I tried. I
wonder if that day was as much of a turning point for the others as it was for me. Kathryn died the following February and I discovered in reading her biography by Jamie Buckingham (Daughter of Destiny) that September sermon at Oral Roberts University was her last. He records the amazing move of God’s Spirit that happened in that service. But the appeal she made was not about having the most profitable and comfortable life possible, it was about paying the price that God was calling us to pay as his disciples. People really do look for something they can give their lives for.

Jesus communicates about paying the price in three ways. The first is offensive, saying that following Christ means “hating” those we love the most. This is clearly a use of hyperbole, but he is saying that our love for the kingdom must be foremost above all. Jesus is not a convenience Savior. The symbol of our faith is the cross, an object of scorn and sacrifice. The price of following Jesus is high. He is either Lord of all or not at all.

The illustration of the tower emphasizes that when we follow Jesus we are in it for the long haul. We don’t follow Christ on merely an emotional experience or as long as it feels good or as long as I am getting the answers to my prayers that I want. In the words of the old chorus, “I have decided to follow Jesus, no turning back.” The price of following Jesus is long term.

The illustration of the king going to war has the same basic theme, but then Jesus finishes it with a greater demand,

“In the same way, any of you who does not give up everything he has cannot be my disciple.”

We all squirm at that one. The place of total relinquishment seems over the top. But how interesting it is that when it all becomes God’s, God ends up giving it back to us better than it was before. I gave the Lord music as a profession and he gave it back to me as an avocation and special joy. I gave the Lord my plans for the future and he gave me a future I never dreamed possible. I gave the Lord my ministry and he has used it in ways that have surprised me and he has multiplied it in other people. I’m not yet even close to the point of total relinquishment, and to the point I am not there is the point where I have yet to see the full generosity of God. How about you?