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“Counting the Cost” :25-35 16th Sunday after Pentecost September 4, 2016 Pastor Ryan www.redeemerlutheran.us

In our reading, we have a challenge of the depth of our discipleship in ’ own words. If you own a red letter version of the , where all of Jesus’ words he spoke are set apart by red ink, this is one of those sections of Holy Scripture.

Luke 14:33 So therefore, any one of you who does not renounce all that he has cannot be my . Jesus as God’s only begotten Son, who is the Savior who came down from heaven in order to deliver us from the dominion of darkness, sin, death, and the devil. He will not settle for a lower priority than number 1 in our lives, and the truth is He never should have to. That is why my message today based on Luke chapter 14 is called, “Counting the Cost.”

As I was preparing for this message, I came across a moving story about a missionary who wrote the famous hymn, “All Hail the Power of Jesus’ Name.” This was a man who counted the cost of discipleship and risked everything he had for the Gospel of Jesus .

[Video]

[The story of the hymn “All Hail the Power of Jesus’ Name.” It was written by Edward Perronet in 1779. Soon after Rev. E. P. Scott was a missionary to India. One day he passed a man of unusual appearance. A man from a wild mountain tribe, unreached by the Gospel. Mr. Scott prayed over the matter, and against the pleadings of his friends decided to visit the tribe. As he neared their village he was ambushed by a war party. They seized him. Spears pointed at his heart. With no hope of escape Scott calmly opened his violin case, breathed a prayer, and began to sing, “All Hail the Power of Jesus’ Name!” at “every kindred, every tribe…” Then he opened his eyes. The warriors stood in tears, spears lowered. Mr. Scott was allowed into the village. He spent two years among them. Many people believed in Christ.] 2

It is essential for our faith that we understand the difference between two words, free and cheap. God’s grace is freely given to us, so that we are children of God by His saving grace through faith in His Son, Jesus Christ. Sometimes in our world today we get offers for free items, and we have learned to be weary of those kinds of offers. My parents taught me, “if something seems too good to be true, it probably is.” It is important to look for the fine print, before signing up for a free item.

The truth is in the details, there seems to always be a catch with “free” things, and because we are constantly bombarded with “free” items, we can make the connection between the word “free” and the word “cheap.” When it comes to God’s offer of grace and salvation, we must be careful to distinguish these two adjectives from each other.

There was a Lutheran Pastor, who wrote a wonderful book titled, “The Cost of

Discipleship,” his name was Dietrich Bonhoeffer. He was a pastor who served in Germany, during WWII, and he resisted and even fought against the evil leader, Adolf Hitler. Pastor

Bonhoeffer, was a man of God, who knew how to count the cost of being a disciple of Jesus

Christ. On April 9, 1945 Dietrich Bonhoeffer was executed with 6 other resisters, just one month before the Allies got there, and forced Germany to surrender.

A decade later, a camp doctor who witnessed Bonhoeffer's hanging described the scene: "The prisoners … were taken from their cells, and the verdicts of court martial read out to them. Through the half-open door in one room of the huts, I saw Pastor Bonhoeffer, before taking off his prison garb, kneeling on the floor praying fervently to his God. I was most deeply moved by the way this lovable man prayed, so devout and so certain that God heard his prayer.

At the place of execution, he again said a prayer and then climbed the steps to the gallows, 3 brave and composed. His death ensued in a few seconds. In the almost 50 years that I have worked as a doctor, I have hardly ever seen a man die so entirely submissive to the will of God."

In 1937 his book “The Cost of Discipleship” was written. There he outlined 5 main ideas,

(1) Costly grace, (2) The Call to Discipleship, (3) Single-Minded Obedience, (4) Discipleship and the Cross, (5) Discipleship and the Individual. This book and his book on ethics have had a huge impact on me and my approach to following Christ as a disciple.

Pastor Bonhoeffer compares and contrasts cheap grace and costly grace. Making the point that only costly grace is real, while cheap grace is just a figment of our imaginations. He wrote the following about cheap grace:

Cheap grace is the grace we bestow upon ourselves. (p. 44 “Cost of Discipleship”)

Cheap grace is the preaching of forgiveness without requiring repentance, baptism without church discipline, Communion without confession, absolution without personal confession.

Cheap grace is grace without discipleship, grace without the cross, grace without Jesus Christ, living and incarnate. (p. 45 “Cost of Discipleship”)…“Such grace is costly because it calls us to follow, and it is grace because it calls us to follow Jesus Christ. It is costly because it costs a man his life, and it is grace because it gives a man the only true life.” (p. 45 “Cost of

Discipleship”)

His words ring true, they are rooted in Scripture and based upon the teachings of Martin

Luther. They reflect Christ’s own words about the importance of counting the cost of discipleship. Now great crowds accompanied him, and he turned and said to them, 26 "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. 27 Whoever does 4 not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple. (Luke 14:25-27) Jesus is saying that before we lay claim to the title disciple, to make sure we cost the cost of following him. Let me be clear here, Jesus is not telling us to hate our families, our parents, our spouse, and our children. He is not saying that. He is using the Hebrew language to describe single- minded loyalty in terms of being his disciple. We cannot love anything or anyone more Jesus

Christ who is our Savior and Lord.

He is not saying an institution, a building, an organization, or even ministry dedicated to

His name. Jesus is saying, “I love you completely, so much that I willingly laid my life down on your behalf, so that you could be free, so that you join me in the eternal life that I have been preparing for you. And since, I so love you, can you count the cost, and love me with all your heart, all of your soul, all of your mind, and all of your strength?”

A Disciple is a biblical word that means: as one who directs his mind to something learner, disciple, pupil, an apprentice who follows his Master. When Christ calls a man he calls him to come and die. (p. 89 Cost of Discipleship) To die to self, to die to the entanglements of this world, to die to sin, to die to complacency, to die to the attitude of “I will get serious about my faith later in life.” We are called to daily pick up our crosses and follow after Jesus, to pick up our own death sentences, and this denial of self, gives us all the hope in the world. Why?

Because we know the rest of the story, it is written for us in the pages of the , the cross is not the end of our Master, of our Lord Jesus. It is the beginning of a life sold out for

His purposes, for His glory to shine as a beacon through us to those people He placed into our lives. 5

How can we do this? How can we keep the 1st commandment and love God with every aspect of our being? The answer to these questions again doesn’t depend on us, as it much more depends on God’s grace to fulfill what we cannot. In a practical way, I always remind myself, to strive to live in light of my faith and not in spite of it. To surround myself with other

Christians has helped me in my journey. To listen to Christian music helps God’s truth go from my mind into my heart. To pray, and remember it is a privilege and never a chore. To focus each morning on the cross of our Lord Jesus. All of our best efforts by themselves is not enough, why is why we must rely on God’s rich overflowing grace to fulfill what we cannot.

A song that describes counting the cost of discipleship, and its words continue in my heart as a prayer to God our Father in Heaven. So that I can reflect glimmers of God’s love for my fellow man. It is sung by Hillsong United, entitled “Lead Me to The Cross.”

Savior I come Quiet my soul remember Redemption's hill Where Your blood was spilled For my ransom Everything I once held dear I count it all as loss

[Chorus:] Lead me to the cross Where Your love poured out Bring me to my knees Lord I lay me down Rid me of myself I belong to You Lead me, lead me to the cross

You were as I Tempted and trialed Human The word became flesh Bore my sin and death 6

Now you're risen

Everything I once held dear I count it all as loss

[Chorus:] Lead me to the cross Where Your love poured out Bring me to my knees Lord I lay me down Rid me of myself I belong to You Lead me, lead me to the cross Paul wrote the Church in Phillipi, “But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ.” (Philippians 3:7)

Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote: “Faith can no longer mean sitting still and waiting- they must rise and follow him. The call frees them from all earthly ties, and binds them to Jesus Christ alone.”

(p.62-63 Cost of Discipleship)

And again “Such grace is costly because it calls us to follow, and it is grace because it calls us to follow Jesus Christ. It is costly because it costs a man his life, and it is grace because it gives a man the only true life.” (p. 45 “Cost of Discipleship”)

Jesus promises us in John chapter 12, Whoever loves his life loses it, and whoever hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. (ESV John 12:25)

Here is a vivid image painted in the book of Revelation describing the disciples of Jesus: NIV

Revelation 12:11 They overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony; they did not love their lives so much as to shrink from death.

For encouragement let us look to the saints who have gone on before us, like St. Paul who wrote in Acts chapter 20: ESV Acts 20:24 But I do not account my life of any value nor as 7 precious to myself, if only I may finish my course and the ministry that I received from the

Lord Jesus, to testify to the gospel of the grace of God.

Is being a fully committed disciple worth it? Is it worth the suffering, the setbacks, the rejection that we will face because of our allegiance to our Lord and Savior? I answer those questions with a whole hearted, with every fiber of my soul, YES. To live for Christ gives me hope in eternal life, confidence in the Creator of the Universe. To live for Christ gives me God’s love and faithfulness because of His Son’s sacrifice for me on the cross over 2,000 years ago.

The same Savior rose again from the dead and has promised to return to recreate the entire universe as it was in the beginning, God does not change like the fleeting shadows, He is forever faithful, and I trust in His promises when he tells us, “ I am coming soon.” My goal is like Paul’s that “I may finish my course and the ministry that I have received from the Lord

Jesus, to testify to the Gospel of the grace of God.” Because that costly grace truly makes all the difference in the world, in this one and the next. Amen.