What did Jesus mean when He told His disciples to count the cost?

Counting the cost…

Luke 14:25-34

The Voice Translation

Count the Cost

Jesus continues to challenge Jewish ideas about who will be in the kingdom of God and how the Kingdom will work. Those who have been dishonored on earth will be honored in the Kingdom, and those in positions of economic and religious honor here will be dishonored there. He also challenges individuals to reconsider their personal value systems. They should not honor their own lives and family above Christ, but rather give them up for Him.

25 Great crowds joined Him on His journey, and He turned to them.

Jesus: 26 If any of you come to Me without hating your own father, mother, wife, children, brothers, sisters, and yes, even your own life, you can’t be My disciple. 27 If you don’t carry your own cross as if to your own execution as you follow Me, you can’t be part of My movement. 28 Just imagine that you want to build a tower. Wouldn’t you first sit down and estimate the cost to be sure you have enough to finish what you start? 29 If you lay the foundation but then can’t afford to finish the tower, everyone will mock you: 30 “Look at that guy who started something that he couldn’t finish!”

31 Or imagine a king gearing up to go to war. Wouldn’t he begin by sitting down with his advisors to determine whether his 10,000 troops could defeat the opponent’s 20,000 troops? 32 If not, he’ll send a peace delegation quickly and negotiate a peace treaty. 33 In the same way, if you want to be My disciple, it will cost you everything. Don’t underestimate that cost!

34 Don’t be like salt that has lost its taste. How can its saltiness be restored? Flavorless salt is absolutely worthless.

https://youtu.be/GO0iYMWhwFk

Question: “What does it mean to ‘count the cost’ (Luke 14:28)?”

Answer:

In Luke 14, Jesus lays out the terms of discipleship. There were great crowds following Him. Everyone loved the miracles, healing, and free food.

Jesus was cool, the talk of the town, and the latest fad. But He knew their hearts. He knew they desired the benefits of what He did rather than an understanding of who He was.

They loved His gifts, not the life He was calling them to. So He explained what it takes to be one of His followers:

“If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple.

Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple. For which of you, desiring to build a tower, does not first sit down and count the cost, whether he has enough to complete it?

Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who see it begin to mock him, saying, ‘This man began to build and was not able to finish.’

Or what king, going out to encounter another king in war, will not sit down first and deliberate whether he is able with ten thousand to meet him who comes against him with twenty thousand?

And if not, while the other is yet a great way off, he sends a delegation and asks for terms of peace. So therefore, any one of you who does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple” (Luke 14:26-33).

Jesus said a lot in those simple illustrations. He quickly put an end to the idea that He offered some kind of welfare program.

Although the gift of eternal life is free to anyone who asks (John 3:16), the asking requires a transfer of ownership (Luke 9:23; Galatians 5:24).

“Counting the cost” means recognizing and agreeing to some terms first. In following Christ, we cannot simply follow our own inclinations. We cannot follow Him and the world’s way at the same time (Matthew 7:13-14).

Following Him may mean we lose relationships, dreams, material things, or even our lives.

Those who are following Jesus simply for what they can get won’t stick around when the going gets tough. When God’s way conflicts with our way, we will feel betrayed by the shallow, me-first faith we have bought into.

If we have not counted the cost of being His child, we will turn away at the threat of sacrifice and find something else to gratify our selfish desires (cf. Mark 4:5, 16-17).

In Jesus’ earthly ministry, there came a time when the free food stopped and public opinion turned ugly. The cheering crowds became jeering crowds. And Jesus knew ahead of time that would happen.

Jesus ended His description of the cost of discipleship with a breathtaking statement: “Any one of you who does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple” (Luke 14:33).

“Renouncing” may mean we give up something physically, but more often it means we let go emotionally so that what we possess no longer possesses us.

When we become one of His, we cannot continue to belong to this world (1 John 2:15-17). We must make a choice, for we cannot serve both God and Mammon (Matthew 6:24).

The rich young ruler, when confronted with that choice, turned his back on Jesus (Luke 18:18-25).

Suppose you learned that you had been given an all-expense-paid condo on a beach in Tahiti, complete with airfare, a car, food, and a maid.

You could brag about your new lifestyle, plan for it, and dream about it. But until you pack up and leave your current home, the new life is never really yours.

You cannot live in Tahiti and your current hometown at the same time.

Many people approach Christianity the same way. They love the idea of eternal life, escaping hell, and having Jesus at their beck and call. But they are not willing to leave the life they now live.

Their desires, lifestyle, and sinful habits are too precious to them. Their lives may exhibit a token change—starting to attend church or giving up a major sin—but they want to retain ownership of everything else.

Jesus is speaking in Luke 14 to those with that mindset.

We cannot earn salvation by lifestyle change or any other good deed (Ephesians 2:8-9). But when we choose to follow Christ, we are releasing control of our lives.

When Jesus is in control, pure living results (1 John 3:4-10; 2 Corinthians 5:17). In Jesus’ parable of the sower, it was only the soil that allowed the seed to put down roots and bear fruit that was called “good.”

If we are going to be disciples of Christ, we must first count the cost of following Him.

From: True Discipleship: The Art of Following Jesus by John Koessler

Here’s the deal, the God who gave us our life —- Authored and Created us — also gave to each of us a free will, so it would be solely up to us how we would spend our life, whether we would spend our life to serve self, or to serve our Creator?

Of course it was always God’s purpose and wish that we each would choose to follow Him and the reason He never forces this issue is because God is looking for a people who would willingly lay their life down for Him, as Jesus did for us.

Here’s the deal,

God is in control…

This is why we pray…

Whether in the big things of Life, concerning Nations; or in our own personal trials and tribulations, God is in control! [Follow link for Backstory: 2 Kings 6:8-23]

Psalm 33:8-20

The Message Bible
8 Earth-creatures, bow before God;
world-dwellers—down on your knees!

9 Here’s why: He spoke and there it was,
in place the moment He said so.

10 God takes the wind out of Babel pretense,
He shoots down the world’s power-schemes.

11 God’s plan for the world stands up,
all His designs are made to last.

12 Blessed is the country with God for God;
blessed are the people he’s put in His will.

13 From high in the skies God looks around,
He sees all Adam’s brood.

14 From where He sits
He overlooks all us earth-dwellers.

15 He has shaped each person in turn;
now He watches everything we do.

16 No king succeeds with a big army alone,
no warrior wins by brute strength.

17 Horsepower is not the answer;
no one gets by on muscle alone.

18 Watch this: God’s eye is on those who respect Him,
the ones who are looking for His love.

19 He’s ready to come to their rescue in bad times;
in lean times He keeps body and soul together.

20 We’re depending on God;
He’s everything we need!

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What does it mean to abide in Christ…

Text: You are holding a cup of coffee when someone comes along and
bumps into you or shakes your arm, making you spill your coffee
everywhere.

Why did you spill the coffee?

“Well, because someone bumped into me, of course!”

Wrong answer – you spilled your coffee because there was coffee in your cup. Had there been tea in the cup, you would have spilled tea.

“Whatever is inside the cup is what will spill out.”

Therefore, when life comes along and shakes you (which WILL happen), whatever is inside you will come out.

It’s easy to fake it, until you get rattled.

“So, we ask ourselves…., “What’s inside my cup?”

When life gets tough, what spills over?

Joy, gratefulness, peace, and humility?

Or, anger, bitterness, harsh words, and reactions.
You choose!

Today, let’s work towards filling our cups with gratitude, forgiveness, joy, words of affirmation, kindness, gentleness, and love for others!

Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks…

Jesus said, “Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me.”

I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing.

If anyone does not abide in Me, he is cast out as a branch and is withered; and they gather them and throw them into the fire, and they are burned.” (John 15:4-6)

I want to thank Val for sharing this story, this morning, about the spilt coffee…

It’s so right on, and so I’m going to expand upon it a little, because this is something we ALL struggle with.

Being a Christian requires, as an act of our will (by faith), that we immerse ourselves in Christ 24/7.

Matthew 12:34
Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.

Proverbs 4:23
Keep your heart with all vigilance, for from it flow the springs of life.

Galatians 5:16-25

Walking in the Spirit
16 I say then: Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. 17 For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another, so that you do not do the things that you wish. 18 But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.

19 Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are: [a]adultery, [b]fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, 20 idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, 21 envy, [c]murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like; of which I tell you beforehand, just as I also told you in time past, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.

22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 [d]gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law. 24 And those who are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. 25 If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.

This is why we have to abide in Christ and maintain that connection 24/7; a branch cannot bear fruit unless it is attached to the Vine.

Being a Christian is not a spectator sport, and the church is not where we go to be entertained, rather it’s our team meeting.

The pastor should be like the coach of a football team and the church is where we go to learn how to play the game, to take the Gospel out into the highways and byways of this world, starting in our local communities.

The church is also like a hospital where people go when they recognize that they need help. No hospital will ever tell you get well and then come see us because that’s what they’re there for, to help you get well.

1 John 2:6
Berean Literal Translation
The one claiming to abide in Him (Jesus) ought also walk just as in the same way that He walked.

This is why we walk by faith because none of us can do this perfectly and fortunately for us, because of Jesus’ propitious sacrifice on calvary’s Cross, He already has won this race for us, as we are told in Ephesians 2:8-9, “…that we are saved by grace through faith and that not of ourselves it’s the gift of God.”

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Waiting on God…

Never quit…

The moment you are about to quit is generally the moment just before your miracle happens… this is why we NEVER QUIT!

ISAIAH 40:22-31

The Message Bible
22 God sits high above the round circle of earth.
The people look like mere ants.
He stretches out the skies like a canvas—
yes, like a tent canvas to live under.

23 He ignores what all the princes say and do.
The rulers of the earth count for nothing.
24 Princes and rulers don’t amount to much.
Like seeds barely rooted, just sprouted,
They shrivel when God blows on them.

Like flecks of chaff, they’re gone with the wind.

25 “So—who is like me?
Who holds a candle to me?” says The Holy.

26 Look at the night skies:
Who do you think made all this?
Who marches this army of stars out each night,
counts them off, calls each by name
—so magnificent! so powerful!—
and never overlooks a single one?

27 Why would you ever complain, O Jacob,
or, whine, Israel, saying,
“God has lost track of me.
He doesn’t care what happens to me”?

28 Don’t you know anything? Haven’t you been listening?
God doesn’t come and go. God lasts.
He’s Creator of all you can see or imagine.

He doesn’t get tired out, doesn’t pause to catch his breath.
And he knows everything, inside and out.

29 He energizes those who get tired,
gives fresh strength to dropouts.

30 For even young people tire and drop out,
young folk in their prime stumble and fall.

31 But those who wait upon God get fresh strength.
They spread their wings and soar like eagles,
They run and don’t get tired,
they walk and don’t lag behind.

The instructions for us to wait upon the Lord and never to quit has to first be predicated upon the will of God.

God NEVER tells us to ask Him for something He doesn’t want us to have; and then when we ask we MUST ask in expectant faith!
1 John 5:14-15

Confidence and Compassion in Prayer
14 Now this is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask ANYTHING according to His will, He hears us. 15 And if we know that He hears us, WHATEVER we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we have asked of Him.

In Mark’s Gospel, after coming down off the Mt. of Transfiguration, Jesus finds Himself confronted with a desperate 911 situation, where a father with an demon oppressed Epileptic son is desperate to gain healing and deliverance for his son.

Coming down off the Mt. of Transfiguration, Jesus was confronted with a deparate situation:

Mark 9:14-26
A Boy Is Healed

14 And when He came to the disciples, He saw a great multitude around them, and scribes disputing with them. 15 Immediately, when they saw Him, all the people were greatly amazed, and running to Him, greeted Him. 16 And He asked the scribes, “What are you discussing with them?”

17 Then one of the crowd answered and said, “Teacher, I brought You my son, who has a mute spirit. 18 And wherever it seizes him, it throws him down; he foams at the mouth, gnashes his teeth, and becomes rigid. So I spoke to Your disciples, that they should cast it out, but they could not.”

19 He answered him and said, “O faithless generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I bear with you? Bring him to Me.” 20 Then they brought him to Him. And when he saw Him, immediately the spirit convulsed him, and he fell on the ground and wallowed, foaming at the mouth.

21 So He asked his father, “How long has this been happening to him?”

And he said, “From childhood. 22 And often he has thrown him both into the fire and into the water to destroy him. But if You can do anything, have compassion on us and help us.”

23 Jesus said to him, “If you can believe, all things are possible to him who believes.”

24 Immediately the father of the child cried out and said with tears, “Lord, I believe; help my unbelief!”

25 When Jesus saw that the people came running together, He rebuked the unclean spirit, saying to it, “Deaf and dumb spirit, I command you, come out of him and enter him no more!”

26 Then the spirit cried out, convulsed him greatly, and came out of him. And he became as one dead, so that many said, “He is dead.” 27 But Jesus took him by the hand and lifted him up, and he arose.

God clearly says in the Bible (read also Isaiah 55:8-10) in verse 11, “So shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth; It shall not return to Me void, But it shall accomplish what I please, And it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it.”

In another place, God tells us that He has counted His Word above all His Name (see Psalm 138:2), and in the New Testament we are told that the Just shall live by faith (Note: that the Just would be us — of all who have been justified through the propitious sacrifice and shed Blood of Jesus, on Calvary’s cross).

MY UTMOST FOR HIS HIGHEST
Dependent on God’s Presence

By Oswald Chambers

Those who wait on the Lord…shall walk and not faint. —Isaiah 40:31

There is no thrill for us in walking, yet it is the test for all of our steady and enduring qualities. To “walk and not faint” is the highest stretch possible as a measure of strength.

The word walk is used in the Bible to express the character of a person— “…John…looking at Jesus as He walked…said, ‘Behold the Lamb of God!’ ” (John 1:35-36).

There is nothing abstract or obscure in the Bible; everything is vivid and real. God does not say, “Be spiritual,” but He says, “Walk before Me…” (Genesis 17:1).
When we are in an unhealthy condition either physically or emotionally, we always look for thrills in life.In our physical life this leads to our efforts to counterfeit the work of the Holy Spirit; in our emotional life it leads to obsessions and to the destruction of our morality; and in our spiritual life, if we insist on pursuing only thrills, on mounting up “with wings like eagles” (Isaiah 40:31), it will result in the destruction of our spirituality.
Having the reality of God’s presence is not dependent on our being in a particular circumstance or place, but is only dependent on our determination to keep the Lord before us continually.Our problems arise when we refuse to place our trust in the reality of His presence. The experience the psalmist speaks of— “We will not fear, even though…” (Psalm 46:2)— will be ours once we are grounded on the truth of the reality of God’s presence, not just a simple awareness of it, but an understanding of the reality of it.

Then we will exclaim, “He has been here all the time!” At critical moments in our lives it is necessary to ask God for guidance, but it should be unnecessary to be constantly saying, “Oh, Lord, direct me in this, and in that.”

Of course He will, and in fact, He is doing it already! If our everyday decisions are not according to His will, He will press through them, bringing restraint to our spirit. Then we must be quiet and wait for the direction of His presence.

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The Surrendered Life… what does it mean to be a Christian?

Let Go and Let God into Your Life

Jesus’ invitation is:

“Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”

(Matthew 11:28-30)

This Journey with God, who is the Author and Creator of each of our lives, begins when we are honest and humble enough with ourselves to recognize that in every area that we are seeking in the natural to find meaning, fulfillment and purpose in our life they all have come up woefully short and empty.

I think we all intuitively know that their has to be more to our life than what most of us have experienced thus far and yet nothing seems to satisfy.

Why not consider for a moment that, just maybe, the One who gave you your life might know best what your purpose is and how best to find fulfillment and abundance?

This is not rocket science and God did not make the Gospel message hard for us to understand, in fact one day Jesus took a little child and set him on His lap and then said to His disciples,
“Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like this little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.” (Matthew 18:3)

The truth is we each have been created to have this vertical relationship and 24/7 communion with God, and without this connection in our life we ALL are like fish out of water, flopping around on the shores of life, looking for our way back home!

My Utmost for His Highest

The Surrendered Life
I have been crucified with Christ…
GALATIANS 2:20

To become one with Jesus Christ, a person must be willing not only to give up sin (which is characterized by our own self will and pride that does not take into account God’s will and purpose for our life – see Isaiah 53:6), but also he must learn to surrender his whole way of looking at things.

Being born again by the Spirit of God means that we must first be willing to let go before we can grasp something else. The first thing we must surrender is all of our pretense or deceit.

What our Lord wants us to present to Him is not our goodness, honesty, or our efforts to do better, but real solid sin.

Actually, that is all He can take from us. And what He gives us in exchange for our sin is real solid righteousness. But we must surrender all pretense that we are anything, and give up all our claims of even being worthy of God’s consideration.

Once we have done that, the Spirit of God will show us what we need to surrender next.

Along each step of this process, we will have to give up our claims to our rights to ourselves.

Are we willing to surrender our grasp on all that we possess, our desires, and everything else in our lives? Are we ready to be identified with the death of Jesus Christ?

We will suffer a sharp painful disillusionment before we fully surrender.

When people really see themselves as the Lord sees them, it is not the terribly offensive sins of the flesh that shock them, but the awful nature of the pride of their own hearts opposing Jesus Christ. When they see themselves in the light of the Lord, the shame, horror, and desperate conviction hit home for them.

If you are faced with the question of whether or not to surrender, make a determination to go on through the crisis, surrendering all that you have and all that you are to Him. And God will then equip you to do all that He requires of you.

Come join the Adventure!

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Lord I give you my heart…

God is more than enough and He will make a way through whatever storm you’re going through…

Isaiah 55:1-7

God’s invitation to have an abundant life
1 “Come, all you who are thirsty,
come to the waters;
and you who have no money,
come, buy and eat!

Come, buy wine and milk
without money and without cost.

2 Why spend money on what is not bread,
and your labor on what does not satisfy?
Listen, listen to me, and eat what is good,
and you will delight in the richest of fare.

3 Give ear and come to me;
listen, that you may live.
I will make an everlasting covenant with you,
my faithful love promised to David.

4 See, I have made him a witness to the peoples,
a ruler and commander of the peoples.
5 Surely you will summon nations you know not,
and nations you do not know will come running to you,
because of the Lord your God,
the Holy One of Israel,
for he has endowed you with splendor.”

6 Seek the Lord while he may be found;
call on him while he is near.
7 Let the wicked forsake their ways
and the unrighteous their thoughts.
Let them turn to the Lord, and he will have mercy on them,
and to our God, for he will freely pardon.

Without this vertical connection with Jesus (Heb: Yeshua – our Saviour and Creator, aka Emmanuel – God with us), we ALL are like fish out of water, flopping around on the shores of life, looking for our way back home.

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The reason why we pray…

This is the reason why we pray…

“Call unto me, and I will answer you, and show you great and mighty things, which you know not.” (Jeremiah 33:3)

God Calling

By Two Listeners

(This devotion was written by two sisters, who lived through the London Blitzgreg – who chose to remain annonomous)
Perfect Work

Spend more time alone with Me.

A strength and a Joy come from such times that will add much to your friendship, and much to your work.
Times of prayer are times of growth. Cut those times short and many well-filled hours of work may be profitless.

Heaven’s values are so different from the values of earth.

Remember that from the point of view of the Great Worker, one poor tool, working all the time, but doing bad work, is of small value compared with the sharp, keen, perfect instrument, used only a short time, but which turns out perfect work.

UPHILL
Does the road wind
uphill all the way?
Yes, to the very end,
Will the journey take
the whole long day?
From morn to night, my friend.
— C. G. Rossetti

“And in the morning, rising up a great while before day, he went out, and departed into a solitary place, and there prayed.” Mark 1:35

It’s through prayer that God is able to sharpen us, as His tool, His instrument suitable for His service, because by our praying and communicating with Him, continually — day by day — through the Holy Spirit (as per Romans 8:26), we are then praying in the perfect will of God. This allows the Holy Spirit, through our obedience and faith, to rewrite the corrupt programming we have received from the world, and instill in us the Mind of God.

Come join the Adventure!

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