Luke 14.25-33  10.30 am Sun 5 Sept 2004

Great crowds were following Jesus. He turned around and said to them, "If you want to be my follower you must love me more than your own father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters--yes, more than your own life. Otherwise, you cannot be my disciple.

 And you cannot be my disciple if you do not carry your own cross and follow me.  "But don't begin, until you count the cost. For who would begin construction of a building without first getting estimates and then checking to see if there is enough money to pay the bills?  Otherwise, you might complete only the foundation before running out of funds.

 And then how everyone would laugh at you!  They would say, “There's the person who started that building and ran out of money before it was finished!”

"Or what king would ever dream of going to war without first sitting down with his counsellors and discussing whether his army of ten thousand is strong enough to defeat the twenty thousand soldiers who are marching against him?

  If he is not able, then while the enemy is still far away, he will send a delegation to discuss terms of peace.  So no one can become my disciple without giving up everything for me. (Luke 14:25-33 NLT)

This is the word of the Lord

Thanks be to God.
September! For many of us our holidays are over for this year. Did you visit an old trusted resort, or spend hours carefully sifting through brochures, comparing facilities, the climate, probable costs and other details. Looking for a holiday that you hoped, you would really enjoy. Or may be you just had a few, equally carefully chosen, days out this year.

Once you had chosen your holiday, if you were spending a lot of money you probably fixed up travel insurance. NOT having holiday insurance could have resulted in no holiday at all, this year if anything had gone wrong, and loosing hundreds or even thousands of pounds.

Many people put more work and effort into choosing and planning their holidays, than they do into considering and choosing to follow the Holy Spirit’s guidance in planning their lives.

In the Bible reading Jesus says, “You cannot be my disciple if you do not carry your own cross and follow me.  But don't begin until you count the cost.” Jesus asks us to “count the cost” before following Him. To weigh up the love and blessings you will receive from loving Him, against the cost of doing His will.

He emphasises the cost and not the blessings. He doesn’t want us to find it costs us more than we expected. You might even be asked to give your own life or deny Jesus.

What are the choices?

Choosing to become a Christian is sometimes portrayed by unbelievers as an obvious, but shallow, choice of a religion.

Even some who count themselves as Christians believe that, “All you have to do to become a Christian is, believe Jesus died on the cross for people’s sin, and confess your sins occasionally to God. God will forgive the sins and never mention them again. Then he will give you a ticket to eternal life.” True to a point, but there is more to being a Christian such as repentance and making Jesus’ values your values.

Some religions have the idea of your good deeds being weighed against your bad deeds or sins. If your bad deeds outweigh your good, then usually, you have had it!

But Muslim’s say, “Allah is merciful.” So sometimes having balanced someone’s good deeds against the bad, he may choose to be merciful, and forgive them. So they say.

In other religions people want to obey the laws because they fear the consequences. God may punish them. Jesus was talking to people on that day mentioned in the passage who had been following and observing him for quite some time. He was asking them if they wanted to become more than Jesus admirers but real disciples who loved him. People who would obey the law out of love, not fear.

"I will put my laws in their minds, and I will write them on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people. (Jeremiah 31:33 & Hebrews 8:10 NLT).

People who have God’s law written on their heart still sin, but repent usually instantly. Jesus removes this sin.

Jesus has removed the weight of sin from Christians which makes Christianity seem the easy option, BUT as Jesus points out in today’s passage, truly following him, loving him means taking over his mission. For Jesus it meant the cross, not an easy option. What does it mean for you?

Can you remember when you first started work? Did someone show you how to do the job? Were you an apprentice, a trainee, a junior?

 When someone becomes a Christian they are an apprentice, a trainee, a junior, a disciple of Jesus. And the ultimate aim of all Christians has to be, to be like Him. To totally dedicate your life to trying to follow Jesus’ example, takes overwhelming love and gratitude to HIM, and total trust in the Holy Spirit’s guidance. No wonder Jesus said, “Count the cost before following me”.

May be you think of the words of John (3,16) (behind me), “For God so loved the world that he GAVE his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.”

And think, “Isn’t eternal life a free gift for believing and trusting in him?”

Suppose I said, I wanted to be the first woman from Staffordshire to travel in outer space, and a wealthy billionaire offered to pay all the expenses in gratitude for the “wonderful” wedding service my husband conducted.

 I would then have a decision to make. I would have to weigh up the physical and emotional cost of the training to get fit enough for the journey. The time I would spend away from my family, and the fact that it might cost me my life. Space travel isn’t that safe.

  The offer being, a monetary gift for a specific use. If accepted, it would have consequences. Do I really want to travel in outer space and may be die there?

The Gift of eternal life that Jesus offers also has its consequences. It is free but, if accepted you have to trust him and use your life His way. Once really accepted HIS way will be written on your heart.

What was the initial cost to Jesus and His followers, for doing things God’s way? Remember apprentices, followers, disciples copy their boss. Jesus left his home and gave up his career as a carpenter.

His disciples, says Luke 5:11 “Left everything and followed Jesus”.

Other followers gave up large sums of money to support the ministry. Luke 8.3 says, “Many other followers were contributing from their own resources to support Jesus and his disciples.”

It cost them time, money and a lower standard of living, and remember they were already paying taxes to Rome and their 10% tithe to the Temple.

There is a personal cost.

Doing things God’s way can disrupt relationships. Jesus brothers said to him on one occasion before leaving him for Judea, "You can't become a public figure if you hide like this! If you can do such wonderful things, prove it to the world!"

For even his brothers didn't believe in him. (John 7:3-5 NLT)

Actually, later, his brothers were amongst the first Christians.

Jesus’ followers can expect the same ridicule for trusting in Him.

Some members of this church have given up homes, and careers, hours of leisure time, and large sums of money to follow Christ. Many will have met with the ridicule of family, especially when family members realise they give 10%, a tithe of the income to God, plus other offerings in cases of need.

Unfortunately, even with these sacrificial offerings we have insufficient money to cover the ministries of this church. With inflation, loans for the main building and extension, salaries, youth work, and the parish share we are now using up savings at an alarming rate. This church needs more people to have God’s Laws written on their hearts.

Do you agree you should do as Jesus says? - Remember justice, the poor, love of God – All without forgetting your TITHE? As Jesus tells us in Luke 11.42. Notice, remembering the poor is in addition to the tithe.

If you don’t tithe already but KNOW in your heart you should; try giving God 3% of your income this year. Your love for Jesus, written on your heart, will then tell you to up the percentage each year. You could use Stewardship Services who will collect the gift aid tax and allocate your giving to your chosen Christian charities, or talk to Irene our gift aid officer.

But God does help those who are willing to give.

In John 6.5 where Jesus has a crowd of five thousand men plus women and children, he asked; "Philip, where can we buy bread to feed all these people?" Philip replied, "It would take a small fortune to feed them!"

I wonder what poor Philip was thinking. He had already given a great deal to be a disciple. Was Jesus asking him to go further into debt? Now Philip sees some of the reward for being a disciple – A miracle. 5 loaves and 2 fish feed 10,000 people.

Another time when Jesus is reassuring his faithful followers he says, "I assure you that everyone who has given up house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or property, for my sake and for the Good News, will receive now in return, a hundred times over, houses, brothers, sisters, mothers, children, and property--with persecutions. And in the world to come they will have eternal life. (Mark 10:29-30 NLT)

There is a price to pay, but there is a reward.

Sometimes the song, “My way”, is requested at funerals. You know the one, “I did it my way”. Duncan always suggests an alternative because he thinks it is an unchristian song.

 One of the costs of being a Christian is to forget pride, and do it His way, and not your way.

In today’s reading Jesus suggested a King would count the cost before going to war. Before going to war against Iraq, Tony Blair must have counted the cost. He was told there were weapons of mass destruction, but his advisers did not know the whole truth.

We can be sure both Jesus and the Bible are true. Jesus tells us the truth. We can base our decision, to be one of His disciples, on all the necessary information. What we don’t know about God’s plan for us, like answers to the question “when” and “what if”, we are promised are unnecessary to our decision.

This country went to war against Iraq based on the information available at the time. The opposition say with the advantage of hind sight that Tony Blair got it wrong. God sees and is in ultimate control of, the past, present and the future there is no way he can “get it wrong”.

The “great crowds” in today’s passage, were following, observing Jesus. They had been following him for some time. Had the word “Christians” been invented, most would have considered themselves Christians.

They had seen Jesus deal with people’s bad health, may be seen people brought back to life, and heard excellent teaching on relationship problems and other issues. They knew Jesus was the genuine Messiah because they HAD been following him some time.

They were on the road to Jerusalem. Jesus had, at other times, explained about the rewards of the Kingdom of Heaven. The crowds following, thought, he was on his way to become a King of an Empire on earth.

 -- Like Tony Blair they couldn’t see the future. Jesus, the Son of God, KNEW he was actually on the way to the cross. So knowing the benefits of His way, he now starts to tell them the cost to himself and his true followers.

Jesus tells them the TRUTH. The truth that only God who knows all things, past, present and future can tell them. Following Him will not be easy in this life. He advises them to “count the cost”.

Jesus must have counted the cost to himself before starting on that walk into Jerusalem. He realised it would be painful; and probably frightening for the short time that he was separated from God, by our sin.

It wasn’t the first time he had warned them that this life, even as a follower wouldn’t be easy but was ultimately best. Previously he warned them, “If you try to keep your life for yourself, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for me, you will find true life.” ( in Luke 9:24 NLT)

People today look to Jesus to solve family problems, money problems, relationship problems, health problems, work problems, etc., but when he asks for a sacrifice some grow disillusioned. Many in the “large crowds” that day were like that.

Where were these followers on Good Friday?

But on the day of Pentecost and later, some must have reconsidered, and realised the cost was small compared to the reward.

Have you observed enough of Jesus to count the cost of following him? If not read a few more Christian books, study your Bible, join a real group, (if you aren’t a member), and ask questions of Christian friends.

 Have you come to a place in your life where you have surrendered everything you have and everything you are to Jesus? Real discipleship is coming to Jesus and saying, “Jesus, I give up. I give you control of my life.”

Some people may feel they have tried to follow Jesus but can’t. Things are bad enough as it is. The cost seems too great.  Take tithing for a start  And what about being pleasant to people who are unpleasant.  And time, well there isn’t enough of it to give more than a few minutes a day to God.

Being a Christian isn’t just about enjoying eternity. It is also about right now. Read John 10.10 where it says Jesus’ purpose in wanting you to be his disciple is to give you life in all its fullness.

If you have considered and counted the cost and decided, yes, he is worth it? Do regular check ups for any moral compromises or half hearted commitments to Him in your life, so you don’t loose that first love. That reliance on Him. Remember you are still a disciple. Still in training.

The love Jesus wants from us is not primarily emotional love, but COMMITMENT, and belief in doing things His way. This love is seeded in gratitude and trust in Him. It should grow, and grow. Eventually growing into a commitment of self sacrificing, for Jesus.

Yes, count the cost of loving Jesus, being his disciple, a Christian. You will find though the cost is high, the reward is much higher.

Amen