Count the Cost Pt.2

Each of us has had opportunities that we’ve passed up.  For some, you may even wonder, what could have been?  What would skydiving have been like?  Would I have flourished at that job, did I miss out on a great relationship?  Since we chose no, we never found out what could have been.  There are times that we get the feeling we passed up something good.

Would you believe that each day God presents each of us with opportunities to bless us, and use us to change our own life as well as others lives?  Opportunities to encourage someone, start a conversation, invite someone to church, or see miracle happen.  Often we don’t think of the opportunities God has placed before us as something we missed out on, it’s just something we chose not to do, or didn’t see.

Scripture is clear though that God is at work all around us, and ready to do amazing things, but we have to be ready, and sometimes we have to ask.  Jesus says it this way to his followers, “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.” (Matthew 7:7, TNIV)  Jesus is not suggesting God is an ATM who just gives you all that you want on demand.  Jesus is reminding the disciples of something important, if you want something ask for it, if you want to experience something, you have to engage.  We also hear from 1 John, “This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us.And if we know that he hears us—whatever we ask—we know that we have what we asked of him.” (1 John 5:14-15, TNIV)

Do you want to see transformation in your brother who struggles with self-confidence, and hasn’t been to church in 20 years?  Pray and ask God to transform his life in a way only God could.  Pray that God would connect your brother with people who would share their faith with him in a meaningful and relevant way.  Pray daily, and pray with confidence, that God will hear your prayer.

Do you want to grow in knowledge of God’s word, to know the bible better to help you in your life?  This may sound silly, but get out the bible and start reading it.  Talk with other Christians about passage that challenge you, or leave you with questions.

Maybe you have a passion and heart to see people come to know God who has never met him before, but you have never done a evangelism class.  Great!!!  Invite them to come with you to church.  Pray that God gives you an opportunity to tell them your story of God’s grace in your life.

I don’t want to look back on my life and think, what could have been?  Instead my prayer is that we can all look back and say WOW, look what was, look at all the powerful ways that God worked in our midst.  And think, it all just started with a little asking and doing.

 

Pastor Bill

 

Discussion Questions

1. What is one opportunity God has placed before you that you need to engage, or ask God for help and guidance in?
2. What might cause you to hesitate or pass up the opportunities God places before you?
3. Who could walk with you on the journey as you seek to ask God in prayer, and follow God in action?

Count the Cost

As a reader I love to walk through book stores and see what books are being published, especially the best sellers.  Recently, I was walking through Barnes and Noble and could not help walking through the self-help section.  Now sarcastically I can say to you this is my “favorite” section of the book store to walk through.  I think I am especially entertained at the claims made by the authors.  Lose weight just by changing how you think, become a millionaire in just two hours a day, learn Chinese in a week by listening to tapes for ten minutes a day.  How many of you can attest to the truth of these claims?  It seems too good to be true, if you want to achieve great things, don’t you have to do something significant to achieve them?

Jesus is walking with a crowd one day, and turns to them and says, “Suppose one of you wants to build a tower. Won’t you first sit down and estimate the cost to see if you have enough money to complete it? For if you lay the foundation and are not able to finish it, everyone who sees it will ridicule you, saying, ‘this person began to build and wasn’t able to finish.’” (Luke 14:28-30, TNIV)  Jesus had a whole group of people clamoring for his teaching, to change their lives, and Jesus wants to make something clear: everything comes at a cost.  Jesus is not trying to send them all away, but instead to ask them to reflect for a moment on the cost of the decisions they make everyday.  To be a follower of Jesus and to grow each day in your faith is a wonderful thing to do, but understand it is not free, it comes at a cost.

If I stay late at work, that means less time with my family, if you do that once or twice it’s not a big deal, but what if that becomes normal?  What is the cost of that lost family time?  There is a cost whether we seek transformation or if we try to keep things the same.  If you talk to your children the same way at five as you do when they are 25, this likely will be ineffective and not allow for you to talk about deeper matters as your children grow up.  Every choice has a cost.

Jesus challenge for us is to count the cost, to be cognizant of our choices and to be clear with ourselves what we are willing to pay.  If you want to grow in your faith, you may need to change how you spend your money, sacrifice time watching some sports to go to small group or volunteer at church or cut back on your TV time so you can read the Bible and pray more.  When you say I want to grow in my faith, I want God to change my life and make it better, are you ready to pay the cost required?  What cost are you willing to pay for a life transformed by God?

 

Pastor Bill

 

Discussion Questions

1. What are some costs for you in places you want to see transformation?
2. What are some costs of following God that are often forgotten?
3. What are some costs to you not to seek God’s transformation in your life?

Count the Cost

Each day we make choices and decisions.  What to eat for breakfast, to speed or go the speed limit, to be kind to others, or have a chip on your shoulder?  Every decision that we make comes at a cost.  Sometimes the cost is obvious, we chose to buy a product and it’s lowered the balance of our bank account, we make a business decision that has a tangible financial cost to it.  Yet every one of our decisions comes at a cost.  Treating your co-workers with kindness or with cruelty may inform their perspective of Christians.  Working overtime everyday takes a physical and emotional toll on you as well as friends and family closest to you.  All our choices have an effect on both ourselves as well as those around us.

Have you ever thought about being a follower of Jesus as one of those choices that we have to make?  Jesus talked very bluntly with his followers about this importance choice and its effect on their lives.  Jesus used this analogy, “”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.” (Luke 14:28-29, ESV)  Jesus challenge to the disciples is count the cost.  That each of their decisions as a follower of Christ has consequences, and they have better thought through the long term consequences of their actions, not just the immediate ones.

Yet as we read this we often think of the big decisions, buying a home, a car, starting a family and more, but it is not just the big decisions that we need to be thinking about, or as Bishop T.D. Jakes puts it, “The costliest decision that you ever make for your business, church, or family may the decision that you chose not to make.”  Perhaps the most costly decision with investing money would be not selling a stock off and keeping things just as they were, and losing thousands.  You notice your lifestyle is leading to weigh gain, but changing would be so hard so you don’t, until you gain 40 pounds, and find out the cost of losing those 40 pounds.

As follower of Christ we are regularly asked to make decisions, some for change, and some to keep things the same.  Jesus reminder in this passage is that as we weigh decisions that we need to count the cost.  To change nothing comes at a cost, sometimes even higher than to change everything with weigh loss, investments, and our faith and church.  As we continue to seek the Spirit’s leading for our work and ministry this is a central question that we each need to wrestle with.  What is the cost of this?  How does this affect others at church, in my family, and at work?  Jesus call here is that mature and responsible disciples make sure they understand the consequences of their choices before they are made.  Because sometimes the costliest, most painful decision that causes the most loss, is the decision to do and change nothing, to remain on the same path.