Now when Jesus saw a crowd around him, he gave orders to go over to the other side. And a scribe came up and said to him, "Teacher, I will follow you wherever you go." And Jesus said to him, "Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head." Another of the disciples said to him, "Lord, let me first go and bury my father." And Jesus said to him, "Follow me, and leave the dead to bury their own dead." - Matthew 8: 18-22 (ESV)
There is a great story in the Old Testament of a time when King David took a census of the fighting men of Israel and God visited a plague upon them. While this may seem harsh at first blush, the census revealed a doubt in David about where the strength of Israel really lay - in God Himself. Remember this is the same God who whittled down Gideon's army to a scant 300 men and still defeated armies totaling over 100,000. It is the same God who destroyed the impenetrable walls of Jericho with some marching and a shout. There was no reason for the census other than a lack of faith and God was making that point. The prophet Gad instructed David to go build an altar for a sacrifice on the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite. Now Araunah was not about to charge money from his king so he offered to David everything for free. The king would have none of that though:
But the king said to Araunah, "No, but I will buy it from you for a price. I will not offer burnt offerings to the Lord my God that cost me nothing." So David bought the threshing floor and the oxen for fifty shekelsof silver. And David built there an altar to the Lord and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings. So the Lord responded to the plea for the land, and the plague was averted from Israel. - 2Samuel 24: 24-25 (ESV)
I will not make an offering unto God that cost me nothing. David understood the concept of sacrifice. It is a concept that has all but disappeared in the modern day church. Pastors today offer Christ up at no cost to unbelievers and they gladly accept the threshing floor of Araunah for free. Why wouldn't they? How could they know any better?
Now let us not be confused. The gift of salvation is free in the sense that there is nothing we can offer to pay for it. If there were people would simply pay the requisite price and never actually change. The cost is in choosing to follow Christ. In the key verses today we see a scribe come to Jesus and claim to want to follow Him. Not only that but there is a certain braggadocious nature to his statement in that he will follow Him wherever He goes! Sounds like Peter claiming He would never leave Jesus only to discover he would deny Him three times. Jesus response is to teach him that saying you will do something is not the same as doing it. Just like dumbing down salvation into a meaningless statement disguised as a prayer has no value either:
I invite you to bow your head and quietly whisper the prayer that will change your eternity: "Jesus, I believe in you and I receive you." If you sincerely meant that prayer, congratulations! Welcome to the family of God! - Rick Warren, Purpose Driven Life, Page 58
"We never want to close our broadcast without giving you an opportunity to make Jesus the Lord of your life. Would you pray with me? Lord Jesus I repent of my sins. Come into my heart. I make you my Lord and Savior. Amen. If you prayed that simple prayer we believe you got born again. - Joel Osteen, Closing of Every TV Broadcast
These are quotes from the two men who lead the largest congregations in this country. Warren is apparently clueless about how salvation works. Believing and receiving is nowhere mentioned as the Gospel. Repent for the kingdom of God is at hand is. The problem is that Rick Warren is the father of the purpose driven movement and you simply do not challenge people about their sins and need for repentance as a matter of practice. Thus he has false taught untold millions who bought his Purpose Driven Life book that all you need to do to go to heaven is say these nine words. How arrogantly false. How many people will end up in hell because they believed such nonsense? While Osteen at least mentions sin in his prayer he never preaches about it. What good does it do to tell an unbelieving goat to say they repent of their sins when you have not even explained what that means? It does no good at all. Realize beloved, it is hardly just Warren and Osteen. They are merely the trendsetters. This is how salvation is offered throughout churches every single Sunday and it is leading to generations of goats being taught to act like sheep. What the key verses teach us today that is if you are truly asking to follow Jesus He has one simple question for you first - have you count the cost? He expanded on this teaching in the Gospel of Luke:
Now great crowds accompanied him, and he turned and said to them, "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: 25-33 (ESV)
Now, does this mean that we must hate our father and mother? Of course not. Hate here means love less. Just like we are supposed to love our own children less than God. Our friends too. We are supposed to love fame less. We are supposed to love popularity less. We are supposed to love money less. There is a cost for following Jesus and the first price is that we place nothing in our hearts before Him. To do so is called idolatry. You do not set out to build a tower without considering the cost. You do not go marching off into a war you cannot win without doing the math and seeking the peace first. There is a cost for following Jesus beloved. I have heard pastors assure people coming up for an altar call that this will only take five minutes of their day. Based on the length of the above "prayers", I understand why they say that but the truth is this will cost them everything if they are sincere. We must renounce all if we are to be His disciple.
If we were to be honest with ourselves we would see where we have held back. We have renounced all except for this thing I still place before Him. This secret sin I still cling to. This favorite false teacher or favorite false belief. Oh what's the harm preacher! The harm is that an offering that cost you nothing is not a sacrifice. A life partially surrendered is not surrendered at all. A two-sentence salvation will not save you at all. This is why the Bible implores us to test ourselves to ensure we are actually in the faith. That we are actually saved. There is a true cost for following Christ. If yours cost you nothing, you were sold a false messiah. The real King of Kings is still waiting for you then. Just count the cost first.
Rev. Anthony.
