The passage in which we find the term ‘counteth the cost’ does not point us to each and every hardship that would-be disciples ought to count on enduring as pilgrims on an alien planet on their way into God’s eternal kingdom. These hardships must be sought out and studied; then, by seekers who are convinced that they have been chosen by God to be disciples, these hardships should be expected. These were my thoughts as I meditated on this verse in consideration of today’s easygoing religion that churchgoers call ‘a relationship.’ Christianity indeed involves a relationship—the most important relationship that a sinner needing to be saved can have, and the one that he had better be found to have had at the Great and Terrible Day of the LORD. But there is more to being a Christian than having a relationship with God; much of it is unsavory meat, which anyone who feasts on the Bread of Life is bound to be served.
“For which of you, intending to build a tower, sitteth not down first, and counteth the cost, whether he have sufficient to finish it?” (Luke 14.28.)
Jesus’ parable, wherein would-be disciples are admonished to count the cost, is particular to the Gospel according to Luke. It is a parable of two similitudes. The one that I quoted concerns the building of a tower; the other one concerns a military campaign. Each similitude is told in order to drive home the same lesson: Reckon what it costs to be a disciple, for by a rash decision to identify as one, you might soon find yourself over your head, and, finally, cast out by God as worthless (verse 35.) “The ungodly are…like the chaff which the wind driveth away” (Psalm 1.4.)
Does this warning remind us of any part of a contemporary sermon? I don’t maintain that today’s evangelistic efforts do no good. But what do we hear during campaigns? We hear, in effect, just this: Come on down the aisle to get saved, and don’t so much as pause for a second to count the cost or to give your decision a second thought. Do altar callers ever warn sinners to count the cost? Could we discover even one pulpit today from which the sinner is cautioned about what he might be getting into by calling himself a Christian?
Jesus was more concerned for the welfare of souls than he was eager to gather a large following. This is one key difference between him and our church-planting ministers and decision-making evangelists. He didn’t count the number of ‘decisions’ that were made on account of his preaching. What was Jesus aiming, by his parable, to prevent? Why not encourage as many sinners as possible to become disciples, and leave it at that? What is the worst thing that could happen to false disciples but a future in hell? If a sinner is on his way to hell already, why should he not be encouraged to take a stab at being a disciple, even without counting the cost? The reason is that hell is not the worst possible outcome for a sinner. The worst possible outcome is a greater degree of punishment in hell, which is the end that awaits anyone for having failed, or for having pretended, to be a disciple. Worse than never professing is to profess and then be found a fraud. Worse than never professing is to profess and then deny the faith. It is worse to be a hypocrite than an infidel; it is worse to be an apostate than an infidel.
There are degrees of punishment in hell, or, if you prefer, in the lake of fire where hell, with its woebegone inhabitants, is destined to be cast. Some sinners will receive more stripes, or lashes, than others (Luke 12.47.) Hypocrites and apostates are the best examples of sinners who will be lined up to receive a greater measure of retribution for sin. Those who fall away from the faith are like the man whose reformation does not take; in the end such men are made worse instead of better (Hebrews 6; 2 Peter 2.20.) “The last state of that man is worse than the first” (Matthew 12.45.) If his last state is worse, his time in eternity must be worse. The beam in the eye is worse than a particle in the eye; this teaches us that hypocrisy is worse than sin generally (Luke 6.42.) There are lies, and there are ‘lies in hypocrisy’ (1 Timothy 4.2.) Only the inattentive Bible reader will not have noticed that Jesus reserved his sharpest criticism for hypocrites (Matthew 22.18; 23; 24.51.) True, the Pharisaical hypocrites did not profess to be Jesus’ disciples. But they professed to be the guardians of the religion that Jesus was the fulfillment of. Had they been truly the guardians of it, they had received its prophesied Saviour. They feigned to be what they were not; therefore they were hypocrites. A hypocrite denies in his heart or in secret the faith that he professes with his mouth; an apostate is a hypocrite who finally denies the faith openly, either by mouth or deed. “But if any provide not for his own, and specially for those of his own house, he hath denied the faith, and is worse than an infidel” (1 Timothy 5.8.) This is to deny the faith in deed. The best known exhibits of apostasy in our day are such actors as Tony Campolo and Hank Hanegraaff, better known as ‘the Bible Answer Man.’ In his latest book, co-written with his atheistic son, Tony rejects the Inerrancy of Scripture, the Trinity, the Atonement, and fundamental doctrines generally. I will be cautious to clarify that it is my opinion that he does it, for he does not do it straightforwardly. Well, sometimes he is more straightforward than he realizes. “By the way, I believe that Jesus and the Holy Spirit are one and the same, and both are expressions of God the Father” (Tony Campolo & Bart Campolo, Why I Left, Why I Stayed, p. 134.) This is a blunt denial of the doctrine of the Trinity. The Trinity is a fundamental doctrine. No person can be saved who denies it. The doctrine of the Trinity is put into our Creeds for this reason. For his part, Hank has lately embraced the legalist faith of Greek Orthodoxy, which is nothing but a version of Roman Catholicism. Such men as Tony and Hank do not like the fact that the cross is offensive to sinners (Galatians 5.11.) They cannot tolerate being labeled offensive on account of cleaving to Christ. Has either one of these men suffered privation or persecution because of his profession? It looks like neither one is willing to risk it. The gospel and virtue have become less acceptable to stand for than formerly; these men would rather transmogrify than testify; they are more like chameleons than Christians. Tony, for example, has become increasingly terrified of offending the LGBT crowd. Unless he becomes a conservative Christian, he will be terrified to an infinite measure hereafter.
To be a disciple indeed, one has to abide in Christ, not only while being applauded and materially recompensed (which favors both Tony and Hank have abundantly enjoyed), but even when facing frowns. The disciple who can’t laugh at frowns, what would he do before threats of a mortal kind? In the time of the apostles and immediately thereafter, it was popular for political powers to persecute disciples unto death. Jesus knew what his followers were going to be subjected to. He warned of what was coming; he prophesied it. “And ye shall be betrayed both by parents, and brethren, and kinsfolks, and friends; and some of you shall they cause to be put to death. And ye shall be hated of all men for my name’s sake” (Luke 21.16, 17.) There is no salvation for any person who quits the faith or denies the Lord. “He that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved” (Mark 13.13.) A hasty attachment to the cause of Christ is hazardous in a time of mortal persecution because grace cannot be expected to help that soul abide whose faith is false. To commit apostasy is worse than never professing; apostasy is nothing else than hypocrisy exposed or confessed. In the time of Polycarp, bishop of Smyrna, “a certain Christian, named Quintus, lately come out of Phrygia, having been shown the wild beasts and threatened with being thrown to them, quailed with fear, and, to save his life, gave in…this man had, more hastily than wisely, rushed up, with others, before the tribunal; and thereupon being taken, afforded by his apostasy a signal warning to all, not to venture on such trials fool-hardily and without counting the cost” (John Foxe, Acts and Monuments, Volume I, p. 672.) We quail like Quintus at the thought of being brutally and fatally persecuted; but we must remind ourselves of what a stand for God requires, trusting that he will provide the grace to stand in such a predicament. Possibly excepting mass murderers and the like, false professors and apostates will face greater judgment than anyone else. Therefore, we should not be surprised that Jesus would have each sinner count the cost before calling himself a disciple.
It is not normative for God’s people to be left at ease by his enemies. To count the cost was instinctive during the times of Noah, the Patriarchs, Moses, Joshua, the Judges, the Kings, the Prophets, the Messiah, the Acts, and during most centuries thereafter. Times of favor toward the saints of God have been few; the rule has been persecution; a comparative exception to the rule would be the 19th century in the British Empire and the USA. But no matter how favored Christians are generally, whether this much or that, sinners ought to reckon the cost of joining the Christian camp. With the Bible at large for my guide, I see four standard ways, or aspects, of counting the cost. In counting the cost, the would-be disciple should have in mind: the experience of privation, the possibility of excommunication, the trial of desertion, and the certainty of some degree of persecution. Privation is through circumstance; excommunication is by a local church; desertion is an act of God; persecution is from nominal Christians and the unbelieving world; while the remnants of corruption and the devil’s demons assist, in each aspect, to astonish and discomfit. When a genuine disciple begins to pay the cost that he has counted on paying, his resolve may weaken for awhile; this is the devil’s opportunity to insinuate unfairness in God in order to make the disciple sin or even deny his faith, which would thus discredit the Christian Faith. Grace being stronger than sin, however, the countervailing force of God will help the disciple to overcome. Grace reigns ‘through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord’ (Romans 5.21.) When the disciple receives the treatment that he has counted on receiving, his faith will be, at length, corroborated and reinforced, and by God’s grace he will persevere.
