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Luke 14:25-35
You are invited to worship with us on Sunday mornings at 9:30 for worship service. In the context of Luke 14 Jesus is telling people that being a true disciple is very costly. Someone said “to follow Christ will cost you your life, not to follow Him will cost you your soul!” That’s so true! The point of the lesson is to be sure you know whatever you’re going to do will cost you – totally! In our current culture and society we are encouraged to buy now based on only a payment. Because of that many families often become payment bankrupt. Let’s consider
- COUNTING THE COST COMPLETELY! It is a truth that God is a God of fullness and completion. God never intends that anything should be started and left unfinished. Completion is a theme that permeates all of Scripture. To many Christians treat serving God like a lease. When the term runs out, or worse yet when the going gets tough – they quit! A true disciple must know what God desires then carry it through to the end. The next time you want to purchase something physical or spiritual, count the cost completely!
- COUNTING THE COST TO CHRIST! One of the first questions a true Christian should ask is “What will this cost my Savior and Lord?” To ask that question Jesus must first be your Savior, then He must be Lord of your life! Before that can be true you must determine that you will give Him (your cost) all your heart, mind, soul, and strength. From Jesus’ first sermon on Mt. Olive we learn that Christians are not to worry about worldly things, then they are to seek the Kingdom of God, then allow God to supply all things for them. That little formula must be done in that order, from the heart for it to work. When we don’t follow God’s plan, it costs Jesus through slander, rejection, rebellion, and ridicule throughout the demonic world and the lost in this world. When we focus on temporal things we rob Jesus of the opportunity to share blessings and spiritual growth with us. Someone might say, “Well, Jesus has already paid it all, so we don’t have too!” That’s exactly the point! Why would any true Christian want to do anything that would cost Jesus more than He has already paid? Finally, must be
- COUNTING THE COST CORPORATELY! Another serious question we must ask is “How will this thing I want to buy, this image I am presenting, this language I am using, this habit I am supporting, this life and lifestyle I am living cost my local church family? Have you ever thought about what personal physical and financial debt alone costs the local church? It’s way more than tithes and offerings. The stress and worry about financial debt costs the church in ministry, service, attendance, reputation, and yes, offerings. Someone has rightly defined debt is as “financial mismanagement to the point of not being able to meet financial obligations when due.” Said another way, debt is also having more payments than you have money to make the payments. When people are in debt the local church suffers two ways; First, people stay away to work and make money to pay debt. They miss all the benefits of the local church. Second, the local church suffers the loss of reputation because most of the time such people don’t have much good to say because they often blame God for their situation. God has more blessings for us than we can imagine and we “owe” it to Him to give Him every possible chance to share them with us so we become wealthy in His way.
If we can help you with this or any other spiritual matter, call us at (574) 643-9419.
