Counting the Cost...

[psalm51]

Luke 14:26-35 NIV

14:25–35 This sixth unit of Luke’s journey section (9:51 - 19:44) contains only one passage — the call to consider what discipleship means. This unit stands near the center of the journey to Jerusalem and summarizes the shift in emphasis from confrontation with the Jewish leadership to preparing the disciples for his departure. Discipleship is not easy, but our accountability to God and the rigor of the task require that we understand the commitment required to walk successfully as his disciples.

Jesus’ attention turns here to his followers, asking them to assess what discipleship requires. He wants them to be aware of what is required to walk the full route with him. His main point is that successful discipleship requires Jesus to be a priority in life. We must therefore count the cost of following him if we are going to finish the walk. His will and the direction he leads are the lodestones of our lives. We must present our lives to him and reflect values that honor God.

Jesus makes these remarks to the multitude, unlike earlier remarks in 9:18 - 27, 57 - 62, where only disciples were present. He has no desire to hide his requirements from those who want to follow him, as if he wants to get our decision first and then tell us the rest of the story. Jesus makes it clear to everyone just how much following him requires. He must be first, and they must be ready to identify with him and his suffering. That may mean ostracism by some of the Jews rejecting him, or it may mean isolation and persecution. Discipleship is a tough road to walk. To trust him is to embrace him as the answer to the journey of salvation, including the rough patches that come with discipleship.

Jesus gets right to the point. If anyone wants to follow him, he must hate father, mother, wife, children, brothers, sisters, and even his or her own life. The background for this remark and its rhetorical force are crucial to understanding it correctly. The meaning of “hate” carries a comparative force here. The idea is not that we should hate our family or lives, but that in comparison to Jesus, if we are forced to choose, the winner in that choice must be Jesus. He is to be loved more than anyone else (cf. a similar concept in Matt. 6:24

Moreover, in a first century context, to decide for Jesus for some did mean deciding against family (Luke 12:49 - 53). Those who loved family more would not even consider Jesus. Those who loved their own lives more also would not consider Jesus, since trusting him might eventually mean martyrdom. Thus Jesus’ remarks come in the context of what conversion may require. People should understand the cost.

To get his point across clearly, Jesus uses two illustrations. One is of a man who builds a watchtower over his land or over a city. Such an undertaking is expensive, and he must be sure such a project is affordable. Thus, it is best to estimate the cost before starting to build. How sad to start construction and not have the money to finish. All of us probably know building projects that started but did not get finished for lack of funds. What a waste to have half a building! Jesus drives the point home by picturing passers-by ridiculing the lack of closure on the project. In other words, moving toward successful discipleship takes reflection; it is not an automatic exercise. There is no positive testimony in a walk with God that is abandoned because the cost has not been properly assessed. Rather, it is tragic.

The second parable pictures a king assessing his strength in preparation for war. As I write, Haiti has just negotiated for peace rather than face an invasion from the United States, which illustrates this passage. What king goes to war outmanned? Does he not first sit down and consider whether his ten thousand can beat his opponent’s twenty thousand? If he realizes he cannot win, he will send a delegation and negotiate peace. Similarly, says Jesus, those who want to be his disciples must make such an assessment. A person must negotiate peace with God. He or she has two options. (1) One can go one’s own way, with the result being taking a stand against God. (2) One can take a wiser approach by suing for terms of peace with God, on the Lord’s gracious terms. This second option means giving God his due and then following him. God desires disciples fully aligned with him. The giving up of “everything” means recognizing that God has claim on all areas of our lives. Part of discipleship is learning from God what he desires in these areas. No one can know at the start of the walk everything involved, but one can enter the journey with an understanding that God has access to all that we are.

Jesus issues a final warning in the picture of salt. Salt is of value and useful as long as it continues to be salty. In this part of the world, such salt could maintain its potency for up to fifteen years. Whether used as a type of seasoning or as a catalyst for a fire, it was only useful when it was salty. If it ceased to function as salt, it was thrown away. The remark notes that God can dispense with disciples who do not complete their call. This means that discipline, even as severe as taking one’s life, can come from God. That is why he calls us to hear what he says. Discipleship takes dedication and focus, and God is concerned how his disciples walk. Different eras involve different walks, since not everyone is called to suffer as many Christians did in the early centuries. But those differences do not alter the need to walk as faithful disciples. Jesus wants everyone on the journey to bring to it an understanding of what it requires and to resolve to stay on the path every step of the way.

The major difference between the context of this passage and the consideration of the text’s function today is that Jesus’ remarks come in a period that marks the start of Christianity rather than the current period, when many people live in a post-Christian culture. The problem of choosing for Jesus was harder to make then than now, though it is more difficult now than it was in the “Christian” culture that predominated in the Western world fifty to two hundred and fifty years ago. In Jesus’ time and in the early generations after him, to decide for Jesus usually meant facing rejection, ridicule, and tension. No one decided to embrace him casually. Today, many people assume they are Christian simply because they live in a culture grounded in Judeo-Christian roots. Though some may be hostile toward believers, this does not occur in many, more tolerant contexts of our modern world.

Continued In Following Post






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[psalm51]

On the other hand, there are other parts of the world where a choice for Jesus means isolation. Those who come to Jesus out of a strong Jewish heritage, out of a Muslim cultural context, or in those parts of Asia where ancestral worship reigns risk rejection from the outset. So the cultural force of the call of this text will manifest itself differently, depending on the locale of the application.

Of course, the call of this text is the same: Discipleship requires that Jesus be given primary allegiance. The Lord wants to have priority in every area of life. Discerning how this works itself out in life takes interaction with God’s Word, prayer, involvement in a healthy community that encourages our walk, and listening to God through all the means he makes available to his disciples. That aspect of the call is timeless.

Difficulties in applying the text come in contexts where a detached association with Jesus is possible. How does this passage look at such people? Remember first that it addresses the reality of discipleship as a long journey. People grow in their understanding and application of what giving Jesus a primary role in their lives means. Most of us, if we are honest, know that God is constantly claiming more of our lives for himself. We continue to discover fresh areas of our lives that need attention as we apply ourselves to the areas he has already addressed. We never completely arrive as disciples; we are always on the road with God. Unfortunately, we can be slow in relinquishing control to him.

Yet Jesus is not teaching that we must be perfect in order to be saved. Salvation is by grace, and the gifts he gives us are the resources that make possible and enable us to be what he calls us to be. We do not fix our faults so that we may earn his favor; instead, we turn to him so that he can begin the work of renovation he wishes to work in our lives. In a real sense, a disciple (i.e., a learner) is a person under constant renovation. I often joke with my classes that if there is any doubt renovation is needed, all I need to do is ask their spouse or roommate! A good disciple recognizes that renovation is never done. He or she also recognizes that sometimes renovation means tearing down before building up something fresh and new. The rebuilding that God does is not always easy or pleasant, but like the goal of renovation, what emerges is much better than what was there at the start. The hope of such transformation is what makes discipleship worth the journey.

The fundamental question about discipleship is to consider its relationship to faith. For Jesus it is clear that discipleship takes reflection and focus. That is why only cross-bearers can be disciples. If we cannot walk the path of rejection Jesus walked, then we are not ready for the journey of faith Jesus calls believers to take. Sometimes discipleship is portrayed as a distinct phase from saving faith, but Jesus rejects such a distinction. Though faith and discipleship are separable conceptually, the ideas are inseparably linked since one trusts Jesus by an act of faith and then walks with him in trust. Jesus calls us into a relationship, not just a decision. As a learner, a disciple enters into relationship with Jesus and joins a lifetime journey of learning. Paul called that journey the “obedience that comes from faith,” a lifestyle that he expected from those whom he evangelized (Rom. 1:5; cf. Acts 26:20). Grace brings a relationship with God as a gift, but included is the journey of walking by God’s grace.

Another application of this text requires serious self-reflection. Do I yield to the Lord in every area of my life — my possessions, my family, even my own life? Do I really trust him to care for me? Or do I have to help him along by seizing control or by being careful that I avoid some of the tension that inevitably comes into the process when one takes a position of representing Jesus to a needy world? These are hard questions, because it can be easy to say we have given over all, when we have only given over what we are comfortable handing over to him.

Part of the problem in counting the cost is that often we do not know ahead of time what the real cost will be. For example, a person may decide to go into full-time ministry, and that decision may mean that their families will have to live on less than if they had brought the same level of education and skill to a more secular pursuit. That sacrifice can be understood as loving Jesus over family — though one hopes that churches will work to make sure their ministers are meaningfully cared for.

Sometimes a decision for Jesus means refusing to offer support to a family member for a decision that may be immoral in God’s eyes. Taking that stand may be painful but necessary. It may mean refusing to endorse a relationship before God that has been conducted in a way that dishonors him. It may mean telling a brother, sister, relative, or friend engaged in adultery, in a painful act of confrontive love, that God is not pleased with his or her actions. It may mean discussing destructive behavior at the risk of never speaking to that person again. It may be perceived as loving God over family or friends, when ironically it means loving both!

Sometimes people do not understand why ministers will not marry people in the church in certain circumstances. Sometimes it is a choice to be loyal to Jesus and represent him faithfully in a dark world rather than turn a blind eye to immorality. To marry a couple who have openly lived together before marriage is to pretend that God is disinterested in our moral lives, a dangerous signal in a world full of temptation. The policy in our church for such situations is, stressing God’s willingness to forgive, to ask people to live separately until marriage, in order to reaffirm their understanding of God’s moral standards. Such a policy has become necessary because living together is now commonplace, and some people, after coming to the Lord, decide they want to honor God in their lives by getting married. We wish to encourage their desire to walk with God and put their relationship on fresh, morally healthy terms, without suggesting that what they have done has put their spiritual walk beyond recovery.

Sometimes being honest means testifying about a crime when everyone in the office will argue that you are a slimy tattletale. The pursuit of faithfulness in the midst of a workplace where honesty is a relative value determined by the end in view can be hard. To choose to be in step with God and out of step with office partners can be a painful path to walk.

The choices of discipleship are not always easy. To follow Jesus and share his cross may mean that neighbors and friends do not always understand why we do what we do. Sometimes they will not support us and may even do things that hurt. Our understanding of what counting the cost means is only theoretical until we are put in such circumstances. But those who have contemplated counting the cost will be ready when the moment comes. They must rely on God and turn to him for wisdom if and when a time comes to choose God over family, self, or possessions. Those who wish to follow Jesus should give attention to who has priority, even when they are just considering starting the journey with him.

Copyright © 1996 by Darrel L. Bock.

 

[Who Me]

Counting the cost is often in the little things in daily life.
At work no longer taking part in gossiping about other staff, not taking part in the telling of shut, in being honest with the little things of work life.
Using an employers property for our private activities, the small courtesy we use with all colleagues and customers.

These simple changes will be noticed and commented on by non christian colleagues and generate a reaction.

 

[Anaphora]

Romans chapter 6.;6. For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body ruled by sin might be done away with, that we no longer be slaves to sin.
Many people don't want to submit to God's will. Either to busy for God. Or enjoy walking in the flesh. Lot of folks wont carry their cross daily and follow Jesus.
Ways of the world, lust, money, fame, idol worship, power, pride, closed minded are the downfall for many people. They don't want to make sacrifice, and submit to God's will.
Galatians chapter 5 . Those led by the spirit will enter kingdom of God.
Those walking in the flesh will go to sheol.