LOJ #157: ‘What Does It Cost To Follow Jesus? Pt. 2’
Andover Baptist Church-September 16th, 2012
Opening
A. Text for today is Luke 14:28-35 and our sermon is titled ‘What
Does It Cost To Follow Jesus? Pt. 2’
B. Scripture NET:
“14:28 For which of you, wanting to build a tower, doesn’t sit down first and compute the cost to see if he has enough money to complete it? 14:29 Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish the tower, all who see it will begin to make fun of him. 14:30 They will say, ‘This man began to build and was not able to finish!’ 14:31 Or what king, going out to confront another king in battle, will not sit down first and determine whether he is able with ten thousand to oppose the one coming against him with twenty thousand? 14:32 If he cannot succeed, he will send a representative while the other is still a long way off and ask for terms of peace. 14:33 In the same way therefore not one of you can be My disciple if he does not renounce all his own possessions. 14:34 “Salt is good, but if salt loses its flavor, how can its flavor be restored? 14:35 It is of no value for the soil or for the manure pile; it is to be thrown out. The one who has ears to hear had better listen!”
C. Children’s Sermon (SLIDE)
1. Have Lincoln logs to make a tower and we are going to
start building a tower to the ceiling today,
2. How many do you think we will need? (take out bag)
3. Try all different ways to get it to the ceiling
4. How come we can't build this tower? I didn't count how
many blocks it would take
5. Actually I did some counting and it would take like 312
Lincoln logs to reach the ceiling (that's a lot!)
6. Did you know that Jesus said following Him is like
building a tower?
7. Just like we need to make sure we have enough blocks
to build a tower, we need to make sure that we really,
truly love Him
8. I hope that each of you love Jesus, because He loves you
and wants a friendship with you
D. Introduction (SLIDE)
1. Jesus tells us two parables today
2. One of these is about an unfinished building
3. Very much like the Siena Cathedral as you see on the
slide behind me
a. Work on it began in the 12th century
b. They stopped for a time and began again in 1285
c. And then they stopped
d. In fact they haven’t gotten around to finishing
this building yet
e. 727 years and still not done (ladies makes your
honey do list being put off by hubby a bit better
right?....Christel I still have 726 years to take out
the trash)
f. 727 years, a building with so much potential, all
that work and all of it really wasted
4. Jesus warns us today, that some people follow him like
the builder's of Siena Cathedral built
a. They calculate wrong
b. They start and they don’t finish
c. And they fail at their original goal of being a
disciple of His
d. Simply because they don't plan for the costs of
following Him and they fail
5. The question therefore is presented to you: Have you
counted the cost of being a disciple of Jesus?
Sermon
READ: Luke 14:28-30 (Scripture slide)
“14:28 For which of you, wanting to build a tower, doesn’t sit down first and compute the cost to see if he has enough money to complete it? 14:29 Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish the tower, all who see it will begin to make fun of him. 14:30 They will say, ‘This man began to build and was not able to finish!’
A. 'For which of you'
1. Who is Jesus talking to? Just the crowd? It goes way
beyond that
2. If we jump forward in the text you will notice that Jesus
addresses: 'All who have ears listen'
B. Jesus introduces a parable about a man 'wanting to build a
tower'
1. Likely to protect a house, a vineyard or a barn
2. It would serve as a watchtower
3. Being this is for an individual and not a king or a town,
consideration of cost would be very important
4. Such a structure would require a heavy duty foundation
C. What is the first thing a prudent man should do before building
such a structure? ‘sit down first and compute the cost to see if
he has enough money to complete it’
1. He sits down, it’s not something you can just
nonchalantly count up one’s head
2. 'count up, 'calculate': all the material all the man hours
everything that will go into that tower
3. Common sense would dictate that you make sure you
have the ability and resources to start a project like this
4. If you knew of someone who started building a
skyscraper without knowing the cost, would you not say
they are foolish?
5. And in this case it is just a tower, a stone structure that
one day, no matter how well built, will crumble and
disappear forever
6. Jesus is talking about something greater than that which
is built here on this earth, something that will have no
end
a. It’s about following Him
b. This is for those who are even just contemplating
following Jesus not just His current followers
c. But would you believe that thee are 6 billion
people that care about their homes than their
eternal destinies (hopefully you are not one of
them)
d. How ultimately foolish this is!
1. To plan for a home
2. To plan for a vacation
3. To plan for retirement
4. And to fail to plan for eternity!
e. It shudders me to think that some people take
more consideration over what they are going to
get out of a vending machine for lunch than the
state of their soul before God!
f. What about you?Anything you have been caring
more about than your relationship with Jesus?
7. Deciding to follow Jesus is not something you do with
no thought
a. There really is a cost for following Jesus
b. We talked about that last week
c. Too many times we try to come thinking that
since salvation is the free gift of God that there is
no cost for following after Christ for being His
disciple
d. There may be whole portions of your life, you
may have to give up occupations, friends, family
and even life itself...are you willing to pay that
cost for following Jesus?
e. Jesus is quite clear: Don't decide that you are
going to follow Him unless you first understand
the cost and agree that its worth it
f. Don’t try and follow if you can’t invest all of
yourself in the journey
D. This man’s lack of planning go the foundation laid, but he was
‘not able to finish’
1. This guy really undershot the cost estimate
2. It would be bad enough if he got to the very top and had
to stop
3. But this guy didn’t even get past the most basic
fundamental part of the building, the foundation
4. To undershoot the cost at this level shows a total lack of
thought
5. I recall another tower in the book of Genesis, called
Babel that was also attempted without God in mind
6. Some people don’t give it much thought because they
have misconceptions about the requirements of God
a. Some people think that they are good enough to
enter heaven, God’s Word says no one is good
b. Some people think they can work their way into
heaven, Grace if free but you can work your way
to hell
c. Some people in this world think because they
simply got wet in a baptism they are saved, but
God’s Word says through Christ alone
d. For many people it’s sadly like a ballet dancer
prancing along the whole time thinking
everything is fine in the middle of a mine field
e. Too many people think they are safe in the grace
of God, but have never truly placed His Son on
the throne of their lives
7. Following after Jesus, but not making Him Lord….is the
same as building a tower but having to stop at the
foundation….because if the foundation isn't right
nothing can be right
E. How did other’s see this failure? 'all who see it will begin to
make fun of him'
1. This is not just a giggle behind the back, but a server
form of criticism
2. It’s the same type of wording used by those who
mocked Jesus at His trial and crucifixion
Luke 23:11 (NET) “Even Herod with his soldiers treated Him with contempt and mocked Him. Then, dressing Him in elegant clothes, Herod sent Him back to Pilate.”
Luke 23:36 (NET) “The soldiers also mocked Him, coming up and offering Him sour wine”
Luke 22:63 (NET) “Now the men who were holding Jesus under guard began to mock Him and beat Him.”
3. The difference is that the contempt shown to Jesus was
unjustified, whereas this contempt for the foolish
builder is justified
4. In the culture of Jesus’ day such a thing would be seen
as shameful
5. An unfinished building says one thing: 'The person who
went to build this is a fool'
6. Like our, 'did you hear about the guy who…'
a. Saw in the last few weeks in mixed martial arts a
guy telling another guy to bring it on, the guy did,
with a kick to the head that knocked him out...his
actions put a deposit down that his skills couldn't
back up
b. Or how many of you recall Wild West World that
was going to be built in Wichita? (SLIDE)
1. On December 19th, 2004 the Wichita
Eagle announced the park
2. On August 15th, 2005 ground was broke
3. On May 2007 the park opened
4. On July 9th the park closed
5. It seemed like that was what all
everybody could talk about(SLIDE)
F. So how does a guy who can’t finish a building project relate to
someone who attempts to follow Christ?
1. Just as the man who went to build the tower had a false
sense of ability to complete the tower
2. So do many have a false sense of conversion and of
obedience to Christ
3. Is this a failure that can be blamed upon Jesus?
4. Absolutely not….He is telling us what is expected of us,
it is up to us to open our ears and listen
5. And one day follower, false follower and mocker will
stand before God and be revealed for what we truly are
6. And the mocking of strangers and people you know
would seem as a great blessing in light of the
condemnation of God
7. Friends you had best count the cost of following Jesus!
8. But Jesus is not done emphasizing His point, He has one
more parable for us
READ: Luke 14:31, 32 (Scripture slide)
“14:31 Or what king, going out to confront another king in battle, will not sit down first and determine whether he is able with ten thousand to oppose the one coming against him with twenty thousand? 14:32 If he cannot succeed, he will send a representative while the other is still a long way off and ask for terms of peace”.
A. For this parable Jesus envisions a scene of war
B. Imagine if you would two kings about to enter into deadly
conflict
1. A wise king would evaluate his forces in comparison
with his opponent’s and determine whether or not he
could be victorious in open battle
2. If you had to meet in battle a superior force you would
have to plan and strategize
3. One thing is for certain you do not make a frontal
assault on a superior enemy
4. And here is such a case as the odds of 2 to 1 are not
favorable odds to the one king
5. If the outnumbered king determines that his army cannot
prevail against the stronger King, the only alternative is
to seek peace terms
6. But this had better take place a long way off from the
battlefield to keep destruction from coming to him
7. During the time of Christ, Herod Antipas made such a
blunder
a. Recall Herodias, his brother’s wife that coaxed
Antipas to murder John the Baptist?
b. Well that woman cost him a lot, as he divorced
the daughter of Aretas IV of Nabatea
c. Aretas was a little bit more than put out and a
border dispute broke out between the two
d. Antipas decided to go to war and got summarily
thumped
e. Herod should have counted the cost of going to
war with a superior force
8. Shall we present into evidence Pickett’s charge at the
Battle of Gettysburg during the American Civil War?
(SLIDE)
a. The Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee ordered
General Pickett to advance his men on the Union
lines
b. The march took his men 1000 yards across an
open field
c. When the smoke cleared 3000 of Pickett’s men
(over half of his division) lay dead in that field
d. All 15 of his regimental commanders laid with
them
e. And the Union line still held
f. Lee told Pickett to regroup his division, to which
Pickett bitterly stated, ‘I have no division’
g. They lost because you don’t make a frontal
assault on a superior foe and they didn’t count
the cost of that charge (SLIDE)
C. What is the lesson for would be Christ followers in Jesus